Update on Cancer Research UK's Grand Challenge

23 January 2019

Scancell Holdings Plc

("Scancell" or the "Company")

Scancell provides update on Cancer Research UK's Grand Challenge Award

Scancell Holdings plc, the developer of novel immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer, notes today's press release from Cancer Research UK announcing the winners of its Grand Challenge award.

The Grand Challenge aims to revolutionise how cancer is diagnosed, prevented and/or treated by providing international multi-disciplinary teams the freedom to evaluate novel approaches, at scale, in the pursuit of life changing discoveries. Scancell congratulates the winners of the Award and was delighted that Project Blueprint, "Eradicating Established Tumours with Unique Cancer Vaccines", a proposal submitted by the Company together with BioNTech, Genentech and ISA Pharmaceuticals, was shortlisted.

Project Blueprint was devised to investigate the potential of cancer vaccines, based on treatment with Modi-3, a product generated from Scancell's Moditope® platform, alongside vaccines targeting new mutations within individual patient tumours, for the treatment of virtually all cancers. Notwithstanding the result of the Award, Scancell and its collaboration partners remain committed to the ultimate objective of eliminating tumours by treating patients with such therapeutic vaccine approaches.

Prof. Lindy Durrant, Chief Scientific Officer, Scancell, said:

"We would like to congratulate the winners of Cancer Research UK's Grand Challenge, and to thank Cancer Research UK for putting the challenge forward to some of the best researchers in the world. The shortlisting of our proposal represents a significant scientific endorsement of Scancell's technology and the team remains committed to meeting the challenges of improving cancer vaccines for all patients.

Scancell continues to be funded to initiate the planned phase 2 clinical study for our lead ImmunoBody®, SCIB1, and to advance our lead Moditope® vaccine, Modi-1, towards the clinic, and this remains our core focus for the immediate future."

Prof. Kees Melief, Chief Scientific Officer, ISA pharmaceuticals, said:

"We are pleased to have reached the final stages of the Grand Challenge with our approach to building a blueprint for effective personalised therapies for patients with cancer. Expansion of the specific immune response to a patient's cancer has enormous potential to synergize with existing cancer therapies without added toxicity. We will continue to discuss how we may work together in the future to achieve this goal."

For Further Information:

About Scancell

Scancell is developing novel immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer based on its ImmunoBody® and Moditope® technology platforms.

ImmunoBody® vaccines target dendritic cells and stimulate both parts of the cellular immune system. They can be used as monotherapy or in combination with checkpoint inhibitors. This platform has the potential to enhance tumour destruction, prevent disease recurrence and extend survival. 

·      SCIB1, the lead programme, is being developed for the treatment of melanoma. A phase 1/2 clinical trial has so far successfully demonstrated survival data of more than five years.

·      SCIB2 is being developed for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer and other solid tumours. Scancell has entered into a clinical development partnership with Cancer Research UK for SCIB2. 

Moditope® represents a completely new class of potent and selective immunotherapy agents. It stimulates the production of killer CD4+ T cells which overcome the immune suppression induced by tumours, allowing activated T cells to seek out and kill tumour cells that would otherwise be hidden from the immune system. Moditope® alone, or in combination with other agents, has the potential to treat a wide variety of cancers.

·      Modi-1 is being developed for the treatment of triple negative breast cancer, ovarian cancer and sarcomas.

For further details, please see our website:  www.scancell.co.uk