SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
                             WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549



                                    FORM 8-K

                                 CURRENT REPORT
                       PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF
                       THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

                Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported):

                                  July 31, 2002

                               Aphton Corporation
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             (Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)



         Delaware                         0-19122                95-3640931
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(State or Other Jurisdiction          (Commission             (I.R.S. Employer
     of Incorporation)                 File Number)                 Number)

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              80 SW Eighth Street, Suite 2160, Miami, Florida 33130
               (Address of principal executive offices) (zip code)

                                 (305) 374-7338
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              (Registrant's telephone number, including area code)


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          (Former name or former address, if changed since last report)



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ITEM 5.  OTHER EVENTS.



On July 31, 2002,  Aphton  Corporation  ("Aphton")  reported further  impressive
interim  results from its phase II clinical trial with patients with  metastatic
stomach cancer who were treated with Aphton's G17DT and chemotherapy  consisting
of cisplatin and 5FU. The report updates  results  reported on June 12, 2002 for
58  evaluable  patients,  where 28  patients  had either a partial or a complete
tumor response for an overall tumor response rate of 48.3%.

Of 72 evaluable  patients  reported upon this time, 37 had either a partial or a
complete tumor response for an overall tumor response rate of 51.4%. One patient
had a complete  response  (no  detectable  residual  tumor) and 36 had a partial
response  (tumor  shrinkage  by 50% or  more).  Furthermore,  an  additional  20
patients had stable disease.

There is only one  large,  randomized,  phase III  clinical  trial that has been
reported in the medical  literature  with  cisplatin plus 5 FU for patients with
advanced gastric cancer.  Of 399 total patients  enrolled in the trial, 245 were
evaluable.  For the patients treated with cisplatin plus 5FU, the tumor response
rate  was 20%,  as  reported  by the  European  Organization  for  Research  and
Treatment of Cancer  (EORTC) who  conducted the trial.  The results  reported by
Aphton  today  compare  favorably  with those  results.  They  represent  a 157%
improvement relative to the 20% results reported in the EORTC clinical trial.

It is  estimated  that there are  approximately  570,000  patients  with gastric
cancer in the US, Europe and Japan alone.  The  prognosis  for the  overwhelming
majority of these  patients is very poor.  Patients  diagnosed  with  metastatic
disease have five-year  survival rates of only about three percent.  Surgery and
chemotherapy are the primary  treatment options  currently,  but have shown only
very limited  benefit.  Aphton believes that its  anti-gastrin  approach has the
potential to extend life without adding toxicity to the therapeutic regimen.

Aphton is conducting one Phase III and three Phase II clinical trials.  Aphton's
anti-gastrin  targeted therapy induces  antibodies in patients that bind to both
gastrin 17 and gly-gastrin and remove them from circulation before they can bind
to the cancer  cell and  initiate  cell  growth.  (Aphton  believes  this is the
optimum  method  for  achieving  "growth  factor  inhibition.")  Gastrin  17 and
gly-gastrin  are  believed  to be  central  growth  factors,  or the  initiating
signals, for cell growth, cell proliferation and metastasis (spread) in gastric,
i.e. stomach, pancreatic, esophageal, colorectal and other gastrointestinal (GI)
system cancers. This signaling program is accomplished by gastrin binding to the
large numbers of gastrin  receptors which appear, de novo, in the great majority
of  cases,  on tumor  cell  surfaces  throughout  the  gastrointestinal  system.
Interrupting  this process by immunizing the patient with Aphton's  anti-gastrin
immunogen is a precisely "targeted" immunotherapy. This specificity of targeting
only cancer cells occurs  because  gastrin is not normally  secreted and gastrin
receptors  are not normally  found on "healthy"  cells in

<PAGE>

the GI system,  unless they are malignant,  or on the path to malignancy (except
for cells involved with normal acid secretion).

Recent  findings  have shown that  inhibiting  gastrin  not only  inhibits  cell
growth,  proliferation  and metastasis  directly,  but also "unblocks" a central
pathway leading to cell-suicide  (apoptosis).  This tilts the balance, from cell
growth, to cell suicide. This effect is amplified  synergistically when Aphton's
drug is given  together with a  chemotherapeutic.  Gastrin also  stimulates  the
secretion and expression of other important  growth factors and receptors within
and on the  surfaces  of the  cancer  cells  involved  in tumor  growth.  Hence,
inhibiting  gastrin inhibits all of the foregoing factors  contributing to tumor
growth  and  spread,  while  simultaneously  opening a central  pathway  to cell
suicide.  Aphton's  anti-gastrin targeted therapy adds a biological dimension to
the treatment of gastrointestinal cancers.

Aphton Corporation is a biopharmaceutical  company developing products using its
innovative  targeted  immunotherapy  technology for  neutralizing  hormones that
participate  in  gastrointestinal  system  and  reproductive  system  cancer and
non-cancer  diseases;  and the  prevention  of  pregnancy.  Aphton has strategic
alliances with Aventis Pasteur (NYSE: AVE) for treating  gastrointestinal system
and other  cancers  with G17DT;  GlaxoSmithKline  (NYSE:  GSK) for  reproductive
system cancer and non-cancer diseases; and others.



ITEM 7.  EXHIBITS.

     (c)  Exhibits.

          99.1 Text of Press Release of the Company dated July 31, 2002.


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                                    SIGNATURE

         Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities and Exchange Act of
1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by
the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.



                                 APHTON CORPORATION
                                 (Registrant)

                                 By:        /s/ Philip C. Gevas
                                    ------------------------------------------
                                    Name:   Philip C. Gevas
                                    Title:  Chairman of the Board, Chief
                                              Executive Officer and President

Dated: July 31, 2002


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