NEW: Scancell inks collaboration deal with leading US lung cancer foundation

It is teaming up with the Addario Lung Cancer
Medical Institute (ALCMI) and the Bonnie J
Addario Lung Cancer Foundation.
Scancell Holdings Plc (LON:SCLP ) has inked a
US collaboration deal with a leading lung cancer
foundation that will accelerate the development
of a ground-breaking immuno-oncology drug.
It is teaming up with the Addario Lung Cancer
Medical Institute (ALCMI) and the Bonnie J
Addario Lung Cancer Foundation to take its
SCIB2 cancer vaccine in phase I/II clinical trials.
Patients with non-small cell lung cancer
(NSCLC) will receive the treatment.
ALCMI will assist Scancell with the design and
development of the study, which is set to get
underway in 2018 and complete around 18
months later.
“We have generated preclinical data that
suggests that SCIB2 could be the ideal
complement to existing and emerging
checkpoint inhibitor therapies to treat NSCLC
and so provide an effective new potential
treatment option for patients with this
devastating disease,” said Scancell CEO Richard
Goodfellow.
Lung cancer remains one of the most difficult
cancers to treat and accounts for more than a
quarter of all cancer deaths.
That’s more than breast, prostate and colon
cancers combined. Around 228,000 people
receive a cancer diagnosis in the US alone and
more than 160,000 will not survive.
“This partnership enables us to access an
important clinical programme that could also
accelerate the development of this ground-
breaking immunotherapy technology,” said
ALCMI president Steven Young.
SCIB2 was developed using the company’s
ImmunoBody cancer vaccine platform.
It is a new breed of immunotherapy treatment
that stimulates the body’s own defences to
potentially treat and prevent cancer.
The company recently successfully completed a
Phase I/II clinical trial with SCIB1 in patients
with melanoma.
“Immunotherapy has dramatically improved
many patients' outcomes across various cancer
types,” said Jacob Sands, assistant professor of
medical oncology at the Lahey Hospital &
Medical Center, one of the ALCMI member
institutions.
“One of the next steps is how we can further
enhance the immune response to cancer. Early
clinical data on ImmunoBody suggests it is
extremely well tolerated and may significantly
improve outcomes, which would be ideal.
“I'm excited to work with Scancell and hopeful
that we will take another important step in the
fight against lung cancer.”