The Ames-based pharmaceutical company, which went public with an initial stock offering in November 2011, said in a release that reaching the milestone means the drug trial should be fully enrolled before the end of 2013. The current Phase 3 study is designed to evaluate the benefit of its HyperAcute Pancreas vaccine in up to 722 patients who have undergone surgery for pancreatic cancer.

The clinical trial, which began in May 2010, follows a Phase 2 study that showed one-two-and three-year survival rates of 86 percent, 51 percent and 42 percent, respectively, in patients who had had surgery and then received the vaccine.

Only 5 percent of pancreatic cancer patients typically survive longer than five years. To read a related Business Record story, click here.