Oncology Genetronics' most advanced effort involves treating those with head and neck cancer, a particularly devastating cancer that can severely limit the ability of these patients to see, taste, hear, talk, breathe, or swallow. The trials test the effectiveness of Genetronics' proprietary drug delivery system as a treatment for cancer of the head and neck in patients with resistant or recurrent cancers who have failed conventional therapy. The Company also has approval from the Health Protection Branch in Canada and has also conducted multi-center clinical trials there. Luke's Medical Center in Chicago, in which Dr. William Panje observed tumor shrinkage in all ten late stage head and neck cancer patients who were treated with Genetronics' electroporation therapy system. Five of the ten patients experienced complete tumor disappearance and three patients had a partial response of more than 50 percent tumor shrinkage.
Most patients have only one treatment.
In France, Genetronics has begun clinical trials at four sites utilizing electroporation therapy with head and neck cancer patients. Additional sites are treating patients with cancer of the liver, pancreas, Kaposi's sarcoma and malignant melanoma. Gene Therapy Gene therapy stands on the frontier of treatments to cure some of mankind's most devastating diseases, including hemophilia, sickle-cell anemia, and cystic fibrosis. Genetronics has developed the electroporation hardware to effectively introduce beneficial genes into human cells with both in vivo and ex vivo approaches. In its ex vivo program it is conducting safety trials with humans at The Toronto Hospital in Canada.