Scancell Holdings Plc, (AIM: SCLP), the developer of therapeutic cancer vaccines, announces that it has agreed to issue 25,131 New Ordinary Shares of 0.1p each (‘New Ordinary Shares’) at a price of 95.5p (the ‘Issue Price’) to Hansard Communications Limited in respect of annual advisory fees. The Issue Price represents a premium of 29.93 per cent. to the closing share price of 73.5p as at 12 January 2011.
Admission and commencement of dealings in the New Ordinary Shares are expected to take place at 8.00 a.m. on 19 January 2011. There will be a total of 15,951,790 Ordinary Shares in issue following Admission of the New Ordinary Shares.
For further information contact:
Scancell Holdings Plc
Professor Lindy Durrant + 44 (0)207 245 1100
Hansard Communications
Kirsty Corcoran + 44 (0)207 245 1100
Zeus Capital - Nominated Adviser/Joint Broker
Ross Andrews/Tom Rowley + 44 (0)161 831 1512
Matrix Corporate Capital LLP - Joint Broker
Robert Naylor/Stephen Waterman +44 (0)20 3206 7340
About Scancell
Scancell is developing novel therapeutic vaccines for the treatment of cancer and infectious diseases based on its groundbreaking ImmunoBody® technology platform. Scancell’s first cancer vaccine SCIB1 is being developed for the treatment of melanoma and has recently entered clinical trials.
Treating cancer by vaccination allows small non-toxic doses of a vaccine to be administered to a patient, stimulating an immune response. Effective cancer vaccines need to target dendritic cells to stimulate both parts of the cellular immune system; the helper cell system where inflammation is stimulated at the tumour site; and the cytotoxic T-lymphocyte or CTL response where immune system cells are primed to recognise and kill specific cells.
A limitation of many cancer vaccines currently in development is that they cannot specifically target dendritic cells in vivo. Several groups have demonstrated successful vaccination by growing dendritic cells ex vivo, pulsing them with tumour antigens and re-infusing them. However, this procedure is patient specific, time consuming and expensive. Scancell has developed its breakthrough patent protected ImmunoBody® technology to overcome these limitations.
An ImmunoBody® is a human antibody or fusion protein engineered to express helper cell and CTL epitopes from tumour antigens over-expressed by cancer cells. Antibodies are ideal vectors for carrying T cell epitopes from tumour antigens as they have long half-lives and can effectively target dendritic cells via their Fc receptors, allowing efficient stimulation of both helper and CTL responses.
The Immunobody® technology can be adapted to provide the basis for treating any tumour type and may also be of potential utility in the development of vaccines against hepatitis, HIV and other chronic infectious diseases.