Avax Technologies Inc – ‘8-K’ for 7/26/00 – EX-99.5

On:  Wednesday, 7/26/00, at 2:00pm ET   ·   For:  7/26/00   ·   Accession #:  912057-0-33224   ·   File #:  0-29222

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Current Report   —   Form 8-K
Filing Table of Contents

Document/Exhibit                   Description                      Pages   Size 

 1: 8-K         Current Report                                         5     18K 
 2: EX-99.1     Miscellaneous Exhibit                                  2     12K 
 3: EX-99.2     Miscellaneous Exhibit                                  2     12K 
 4: EX-99.3     Miscellaneous Exhibit                                  2±    10K 
 5: EX-99.4     Miscellaneous Exhibit                                  2±    11K 
 6: EX-99.5     Miscellaneous Exhibit                                  2     14K 
 7: EX-99.6     Miscellaneous Exhibit                                  2     14K 

EX-99.5   —   Miscellaneous Exhibit

EX-99.5
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                                                                  EXHIBIT 99.5

                           COMPANY CONTACTS: Ernest W. Yankee, Ph.D.
                                              EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT
                                             AVAX TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
                                    (816) 960-1333

                              INVESTORS/MEDIA: Olga Fleming/Lisa Bradlow
                                                  CPR FINANCIAL COMMUNICATIONS
                                    (201) 641-2408

AVAX TECHNOLOGIES' O-VAX-TM- CANCER VACCINE INDUCES POSITIVE IMMUNOLOGICAL
AND CLINICAL OUTCOMES IN PATIENTS WITH ADVANCED OVARIAN CANCER

- DATA PRESENTED AT THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF 
CLINICAL ONCOLOGY - 

KANSAS CITY, MO, MAY 22, 2000 -- AVAX TECHNOLOGIES, INC. (NASDAQ: AVXT) today   
announced the presentation of data at the 36th Annual Meeting of the American   
Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) (May 20-23) in New Orleans on the company's 
autologous cell vaccine (AC Vaccine-TM-) O-Vax-TM-, for ovarian cancer. The data
gathered from an ongoing Phase 1/2 trial of O-Vax in patients with advanced     
ovarian cancer extend earlier findings indicating that O-Vax induces a positive 
immunological and clinical response in ovarian cancer patients who are          
refractory to conventional chemotherapy. The presentation, entitled             
"IMMUNOLOGICAL AND CLINICAL EFFECTS OF AUTOLOGOUS, HAPTEN-MODIFIED VACCINE IN   
PATIENTS WITH ADVANCED OVARIAN CARCINOMA," offers data based on studies         
conducted by David Berd, M.D., Professor of Medicine, and Charles Dunton, M.D., 
Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Thomas Jefferson University.            

The extended data reflect the follow-up of 10 ovarian cancer patients with      
metastatic ovarian carcinoma whose tumors had progressed after failing to       
respond to both first and second-line chemotherapy. They were treated with seven
weekly intradermal injections of O-Vax. Despite their large tumor burdens and   
prior chemotherapy, 8 out of 10 patients responded favorably to the vaccine, as 
measured by a delayed type hypersensitivity test (DTH), a skin test that        
measures the patient's immune response against that patient's own unmodified    
tumor cells. Favorable clinical responses were also observed: one patient       
exhibited complete regression of an abdominal mass as evidenced by a CT scan and
a concomitant normalization of the CA-125 level, a protein found in the blood,  
which is useful for detecting and evaluating ovarian cancer. In 3 other         
patients, there was a transient (1-3 months duration) fall in CA-125 without    
radiological evidence of tumor regression. Seven of the study patients have died
with a median survival of 11.5 months and 3 are surviving for 6-16 months.      

Dr. Berd stated, "We are very encouraged by the data gathered to date in ovarian
cancer, especially since we are continuing to observe key immunological and     
clinical responses in a group of patients with very poor prognoses. Particularly
significant is the vaccine's potential ability to elicit an immune response and 
decrease CA-125 in the blood, a known tumor marker for ovarian cancer. The      
observation of an objective anti-tumor response in a patient with               
chemotherapy-refractory disease is surprising. Certainly, these data provide    
additional validation for evaluating AVAX's AC Vaccine technology further in    
ovarian and other cancers."                                                     

Jeffrey M. Jonas, President and CEO of AVAX Technologies, Inc., added, "At this 
time, we are recruiting clinical sites and patients for the first of several    
planned multi-center O-Vax studies that are expected to enroll over 400         
patients. We also expect to use the AC Vaccine to treat other cancer indications
and are currently working with the University of Tokyo on studying the          
application of the technology to breast cancer, and with the MD Anderson Cancer 
Center with application to acute myelogenous leukemia. Our intention has always 
been to use the AC Vaccine technology as a broad based platform from which to   
treat                                                                           

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AVAX TECHNOLOGIES' O-VAX-TM- CANCER VACCINE INDUCES POSITIVE IMMUNOLOGICAL      
AND CLINICAL OUTCOMES IN PATIENTS WITH ADVANCED OVARIAN CANCER                  
Page 2                                                                          

a variety of cancers and the data recorded to date continue to support the      
promise of our novel approach to treating cancer."                              

O-Vax is AVAX Technolgies' AC Vaccine for the treatment of advanced ovarian     
cancer. Ovarian cancer is the fifth most common cancer among women and the      
leading cause of death from gynecologic malignancy in the U.S. It is estimated  
that one in 55 women will develop ovarian cancer in her lifetime. In 1999,      
approximately 25,400 women were diagnosed with ovarian cancer and approximately 
57% will die from the disease. O-Vax is made from the patient's own cancer cells
by modifying the tumor cells with a molecule called a "hapten." This process,   
known as "haptenization," alters the tumor cells and makes them appear foreign  
to the patient's immune system. When the hapten-modified cells are injected into
patients, they are intended stimulate the immune system to recognize the cancer 
cells and destroy them.                                                         

In addition to the O-Vax program, AVAX is also currently conducting a 
multi-center pivotal registration trial of its lead product candidate,
     M-Vax-TM- for the treatment of stage III metastatic melanoma. To date, more
    than 350 patients have been treated with M-Vax, which received orphan drug
    status in the U.S. in February 1999. It is expected to become commercially
available to patients in Australia by mid-2000.                       

AVAX Technologies, Inc. specializes in the development and commercialization of 
novel biotechnologies, immunotherapies and pharmaceuticals for cancer and other 
life-threatening diseases using three core technologies: autologous cell (AC)   
vaccines, topoisomerase inhibitors and anti-estrogens.                          

 # # #

EXCEPT FOR STATEMENTS THAT ARE HISTORICAL, THE STATEMENTS IN THIS RELEASE ARE   
"FORWARD-LOOKING" STATEMENTS THAT ARE MADE PURSUANT TO THE SAFE HARBOR          
PROVISIONS OF SECTION 27A OF THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933 AND SECTION 21E OF THE  
SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934. FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS INVOLVE SIGNIFICANT 
RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES, AND IN LIGHT OF THE SIGNIFICANT UNCERTAINTIES INHERENT 
IN SUCH STATEMENTS, THE INCLUSION OF SUCH INFORMATION SHOULD NOT BE REGARDED AS 
A REPRESENTATION BY AVAX THAT THE OBJECTIVES AND PLANS OF THE COMPANY WILL BE   
ACHIEVED. IN FACT, ACTUAL RESULTS COULD DIFFER MATERIALLY FROM THOSE            
CONTEMPLATED BY SUCH FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS. MANY IMPORTANT FACTORS AFFECT  
THE COMPANY'S ABILITY TO ACHIEVE THE STATED OUTCOMES AND TO DEVELOP SUCCESSFULLY
AND COMMERCIALIZE ITS PRODUCT CANDIDATES, INCLUDING THE ABILITY TO OBTAIN AND   
MAINTAIN ALL NECESSARY PATENTS OR LICENSES, TO DEMONSTRATE THE SAFETY AND       
EFFICACY OF PRODUCT CANDIDATES AT EACH STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT, TO MEET APPLICABLE 
REGULATORY STANDARDS AND RECEIVE REQUIRED REGULATORY APPROVALS, TO MEET         
OBLIGATIONS AND REQUIRED MILESTONES UNDER ITS LICENSE AGREEMENTS, TO BE CAPABLE 
OF PRODUCING DRUG CANDIDATES IN COMMERCIAL QUANTITIES AT REASONABLE COSTS, TO   
COMPETE SUCCESSFULLY AGAINST OTHER PRODUCTS, TO OBTAIN SUBSTANTIAL ADDITIONAL   
FUNDS, AND TO MARKET PRODUCTS IN A PROFITABLE MANNER, AS WELL AS OTHER RISKS    
DETAILED FROM TIME TO TIME IN AVAX'S PUBLIC DISCLOSURE FILINGS WITH THE         
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION, INCLUDING ITS ANNUAL REPORT ON FORM 10-KSB  
FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31,1999. AVAX DOES NOT UNDERTAKE ANY OBLIGATION TO  
RELEASE PUBLICLY ANY REVISIONS TO THESE FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS OR TO REFLECT
THE OCCURRENCE OF UNANTICIPATED EVENTS.                                         

Dates Referenced Herein   and   Documents Incorporated by Reference

				Referenced-On Page
This ‘8-K’ Filing		Date		First		Last			Other Filings
Filed on / For Period End:		7/26/00							8-K
		5/22/00		1
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