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):

                                October 28, 2002

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



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


             80 S.W. Eighth Street, Suite 2160, Miami, Florida 33130
             -------------------------------------------------------
               (Address of principal executive offices) (zip code)

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


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

<PAGE>

ITEM 5.  OTHER EVENTS.

     On October 28, 2002, Aphton  Corporation (the "Company")  announced results
of a randomized,  double-blind,  controlled,  statistically  powered,  phase III
clinical  trial  conducted  in  European   countries.   Patients  with  advanced
pancreatic  cancer who had received no previous therapy were treated either with
the  Company's  anti-gastrin  immunogen  G17DT  as a  monotherapy,  or with  the
control.  The  primary  efficacy  measure  was  survival  time  from the date of
randomization.

     A summary of the  results  follows:  a) patients  with stage IV  pancreatic
cancer  treated with G17DT had a median  survival  time that was 53% longer than
the stage IV patients in the control arm; b) 25% of the  patients  with stage IV
pancreatic  cancer who were treated with G17DT had a survival time that was 106%
longer than the control arm; and c) The overall Hazard Ratio was 0.7; that is to
say, at any point in time,  patients on G17DT had a 143%  higher  likelihood  of
surviving longer than patients on the control.

     The Company believes these are pivotal phase III clinical trial results and
is  formulating  its strategy for selection of  jurisdictions  and the timing of
regulatory filings for marketing  approvals therein.  The Company believes these
results will prove to be a decisive  turning  point in its  development  and the
pursuit of its corporate objectives.  The Company does not want to prejudice the
review of this trial by  regulatory  authorities  in the various  jurisdictions;
therefore, any additional information regarding either the trial or its strategy
will be provided by means of a public news release at the appropriate times.

     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 has advanced disease
at the  time of  diagnosis  which is  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.
The Company believes that its anti-gastrin targeted  immunotherapy  approach has
the potential to extend  patient  survival time  significantly,  without  adding
toxicity.

     The  Company  is  conducting  a  randomized,   double  blind,   controlled,
statistically  powered,  combination therapy, Phase III clinical trial in the US
and Europe for patients with  advanced  pancreatic  cancer;  a Phase II clinical
trial for  patients  with  advanced  gastric  (stomach)  cancer;  and a Phase II
clinical  trial for  patients  with  prostate  cancer.  The  Company  expects to
initiate  Phase II  dose-ranging/indications  of  efficacy  clinical  trial  for
treating  patients with  gastrointestinal  reflux  disease  (GERD),  in the near
future.

     The Company'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.  (The Company
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

                                      -2-
<PAGE>

the Company'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 the
Company's  drug  is  given  together  with  a  chemotherapeutic.   Gastrin  also
stimulates  the secretion and expression of other  important  growth factors and
receptors,  including  epidermal growth factor (EGF), 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.  The  Company's
anti-gastrin  targeted  therapy adds a biological  dimension to the treatment of
gastrointestinal cancers, whether as monotherapy or combination therapy.

     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.  The Company 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.  FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND EXHIBITS.

         (c)  Exhibits.

              99.1 Text of Press Release of the Company dated October 28, 2002.

                                      -3-
<PAGE>

                                   SIGNATURES

     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: October 28, 2002

                                      -4-