Professor Lindy Durrant, Scancell’s CSO, to chair and present in a session entitled: “Combining Checkpoint Inhibitors with Other Modalities”

Scancell Holdings plc, (‘Scancell’ or the ‘Company’) the developer of novel immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer, announces that it will be participating in the upcoming Inaugural Combination Immunotherapy meeting, part of the Second Annual Immuno-Oncology Summit Europe 2017, 20-24 March 2017 at the Hilton Canary Wharf, London, UK, alongside other industry leaders from Merck, Sharp and Dohme, Brystol-Myers Squibb and Cancer Research UK.

Prof. Lindy Durrant, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of Scancell and Professor of Cancer Immunotherapy, University of Nottingham, will chair the session entitled: “Combining Checkpoint Inhibitors with Other Modalities” on Thursday 23 March 2017. Prof. Durrant is also featured as a presenter in this session and will deliver a presentation entitled: “Combinations of Novel Vaccines with Checkpoint Inhibitors”, scheduled to take place at 14.20 GMT.

During the presentation, Prof. Durrant will discuss progress made with Scancell’s two cancer immunotherapy platforms, ImmunoBody® and Moditope®.
ImmunoBody® utilises both cross- and direct-presentation to increase T-cell avidity by 100 fold. In Phase 1/2 trials, it induced T-cell responses, tumour regression and long term survival. In combination with checkpoint inhibitors, it induced 100% tumour regression in established models. Phase 2 trials of ImmunoBody® vaccines in combination with checkpoint inhibitors in melanoma and non-small cell lung cancer are being planned.

Moditope® stimulates powerful anti-tumour T-cell responses against neo-epitopes produced by enzymes induced by cellular stress. First-in-man clinical studies for breast cancer, ovarian cancer and osteosarcoma are anticipated to commence in 2018.

For Further Information:

About Scancell
Scancell is developing novel immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer based on its ImmunoBody® and Moditope® technology platforms.
Scancell’s first ImmunoBody®, SCIB1 is being developed for the treatment of melanoma. Data from the Phase 1/2 clinical trial demonstrate that SCIB1, when used as monotherapy, has a marked effect on tumour load, produces a melanoma-specific immune response and highly encouraging survival trend without serious side effects. In patients with resected disease there is increasing evidence to suggest that SCIB1 may delay or prevent disease recurrence.

Scancell’s ImmunoBody® vaccines target dendritic cells and stimulate both parts of the cellular immune system: the helper cell system where inflammation is stimulated at the tumour site and the cytotoxic Tlymphocyte or CTL response where immune system cells are primed to recognise and kill specific cells.

Pre-clinical data on a combination of SCIB1 or SCIB2 and checkpoint inhibition (blockade of the PD-1 or CTLA-4 immune checkpoint pathways) have shown enhanced tumour destruction and significantly longer survival times than when either treatment was used alone. Experimental data suggests that the high avidity T cells induced by ImmunoBody® vaccines increase expression of PDL-1 on the tumour cell surface, thereby making the tumours more sensitive to checkpoint inhibitor drugs. Re-challenging animals with tumour cells after SCIB1 treatment resulted in 100% survival suggesting that ImmunoBody® induces a powerful memory response. Such an effect has not been observed with checkpoint inhibitors.

Scancell has also identified and patented a series of modified epitopes that stimulate the production of killer CD4+ T cells that destroy tumours without toxicity. The Directors believe that the Moditope® platform could play a major role in the development of safe and effective cancer immunotherapies in the future.

About Immuno-Oncology Summit Europe 2017
Following the success of our inaugural Cancer Biotherapeutics conference in London, we are pleased to announce the Immuno-Oncology Summit Europe 2017, to be held 20-24 March in the heart of London’s Canary Wharf Business District.

With an expanded three-track program, attendees can now experience a full week of cutting-edge science and discussion. The first track on Novel Approaches for Cancer focuses on advances in T-cell technology including next-generation CAR Ts, TCRs, and TILs. In addition it covers bispecifics: for T and NK cell engagement; in the clinic; and modelling for optimal affinity. The track also presents genetic engineering technologies for T cells, preclinical models, and production strategies, and focuses on specificity, off-target tox, and safety. The second track on Immunomodulatory Approaches will present advances with checkpoint inhibitors, agonistic receptor engagement, NK and macrophage activation, Fc-engineering technologies, and cytokine-based therapies, and address the challenge of tumours unresponsive to checkpoint blockade. It includes a keynote session on current understanding of the role of the immune system in cancer. Combination Immunotherapy will review the strategies and clinical trials for designing rational combination immunotherapies, provide case studies of immune modulator combinations, as well as combinations of checkpoint inhibitors with other modalities, and discuss biomarker- and mechanism-based selection of IO combinations.