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):

                                December 19, 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                (Commission                (I.R.S. Employer
Jurisdiction of                File Number)                Identification
Incorporation)                                                Number)


             80 SW Eighth Street, Suite 2160, Miami, Florida 33130
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               (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 December 19, 2002, Aphton Corporation (the "Company")  announced that it
received  official notice from the Therapeutic Goods  Administration  (TGA), the
regulatory  authority  in  Australia  equivalent  to  the  U.S.  Food  and  Drug
Administration, granting its anti-gastrin G17DT Immunogen Orphan-Drug status for
treatment of both gastric (stomach) cancer and pancreatic cancer.  Unlike in the
United States,  the Australian  orphan-drug  designation  automatically  confers
priority evaluation for the drug ahead of other evaluations.

     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   targeted
immunotherapy   approach   has  the   potential  to  extend   patient   survival
significantly, without adding toxicity.

     It is estimated that  approximately  88,000 new cases of pancreatic  cancer
will be  diagnosed  in the US and Europe this year.  The  prognosis  for most of
these  patients  is very poor.  The great  majority of  patients  have  advanced
disease at the time of diagnosis and are considered incurable, with a very short
survival  time.  Surgery,  when  possible,  and  chemotherapy  are  the  primary
treatment options currently available, but have shown only very limited benefit.
Aphton believes that its anti-gastrin  targeted  immunotherapy  approach has the
potential to extend patient survival significantly, without adding toxicity.

     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 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

<PAGE>

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  (NYSE:  AVE) for treating  gastrointestinal  system and
other  cancers with G17DT in North  America and Europe;  GlaxoSmithKline  (NYSE:
GSK) for  reproductive  system cancer and  non-cancer  diseases  worldwide;  and
others.


ITEM 7.   EXHIBITS.

          (c)  Exhibits.

               99.1 Text of Press  Release of the  Company  dated  December  19,
               2002.

                                      -2-

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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/ Frederick W. Jacobs
                                 --------------------------------
                                 Name:  Frederick W. Jacobs
                                 Title: Vice President, Chief Financial Officer,
                                        Treasurer and Chief Accounting Officer

Dated: December 20, 2002