There are major differences between therapeutic tumor vaccines and chemothe
rapeutic agents that have important implications for the design of early cl
inical trials. Many vaccines are inherently safe and do not require phase I
dose finding trials. patients with advanced cancers and compromised immune
systems are not good candidates for assessing either the toxicity or effic
acy of therapeutic cancer vaccines. The rapid pace of development of new va
ccine candidates and the variety of possible adjuvants and modifications in
method of administration makes it important to use efficient designs for c
linical screening and evaluation of vaccine regimens. We review the potenti
al advantages of a wide range of clinical trial designs for the development
of tumor vaccines. We address the role of immunological endpoints in early
clinical trials of tumor vaccines, investigate the design implications of
attempting to use disease stabilization as an end point and discuss the dif
ficulties of reliably utilizing historical control data. Several conclusion
s for expediting the clinical development of effective cancer vaccines are
proposed. (C) 2001 by American Society of Clinical Oncology.