Oncimmune and Scancell Present Autoantibodies Data

RNS Number : 0917P

Scancell Holdings Plc

29 August 2017

 

                                                                                                                         29 August 2017

Oncimmune and Scancell Present Data on use of Autoantibodies in Predicting Response to SCIB1 Immunotherapy

EarlyCDT® demonstrates potential to predict disease recurrence

Nottingham, UK - 29 August 2017: Oncimmune Holdings plc (AIM: ONC.L), a leading early cancer detection company developing and commercialising its proprietary EarlyCDT® platform technology, and Scancell Holdings plc, ('Scancell') the developer of novel immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer, today announce the presentation of data on the use of Oncimmune's autoantibody technology to successfully predict disease recurrence in subjects undergoing SCIB1 immunotherapy for malignant melanoma. The data will be presented at the Cambridge Healthtech Institute (CHI) Immuno-Oncology Summit 2017 on August 29^th 2017.

The collaborative study, which also included a team at the University of Nottingham, developed a method using a panel of seven tumour associated autoantibodies to predict disease recurrence in patients with resected Stage III/IV melanoma treated with Scancell's SCIB1 immunotherapy. Whilst Phase I/II trials with SCIB1 have been highly encouraging, this additional information potentially enables the identification of patients prior to commencement of therapy who are most likely to respond to treatment in future clinical trials with SCIB1.

Geoffrey Hamilton-Fairley, Chief Executive Officer, commented: "This is the first of a number of companion diagnostics programmes we are undertaking, having shown with internal data that by using Oncimmune's autoantibody platform it is possible to differentiate patient responses to a range of cancer treatments. While validation on a larger data set is necessary, these results indicate that in this case it was possible to identify patients who are most likely to respond to Scancell's SC1B1 and thus further demonstrate the potential of our technology in this application."

Dr Richard Goodfellow, CEO of Scancell added: "If this preliminary data is confirmed in a larger clinical study, it has the potential to improve the design of future clinical trials using SCIB1 by selecting patients most likely to positively respond to our novel treatment and thereby increase the chances of a successful outcome."

For further information:

Oncimmune Holdings plc

Geoffrey Hamilton-Fairley, Chief Executive Officer

[e-mail]

Zeus Capital Limited

Phil Walker, Giles Balleny

[phone]

Media enquiries:

Consilium Strategic Communications

Chris Gardner, Matthew Neal, Lindsey Neville

[e-mail]

[phone]

Scancell contacts

Dr John Chiplin, Executive Chairman Dr Richard Goodfellow, CEO	Scancell Holdings Plc	[phone] [phone]
Freddy Crossley (Corporate Finance) Maisie Atkinson (Sales)	Panmure Gordon & Co	[phone] [phone]
Mo Noonan/Simon Conway	FTI Consulting	[phone]

About Oncimmune

Oncimmune is a leading early cancer detection company developing and commercialising its proprietary EarlyCDT® platform technology. Oncimmune has pioneered the development of autoantibody tests that can detect cancer up to four years earlier than other methods and can be applied to a very wide range of solid tumour types. The Company's first product, EarlyCDT®-Lung, was launched in 2012, as a CLIA test in the USA and since then over 150,000 commercial tests have been sold. EarlyCDT®-Lung is available through physicians in the US and also privately in the UK and other regions. EarlyCDT®-Lung is being used in the largest ever randomised trial for the early detection of lung cancer using biomarkers. The NHS Scotland ECLS study of over 12,000 high-risk smokers is now fully recruited and in the final follow up stage. EarlyCDT® tests for liver and ovarian cancer are in development.

Oncimmune, headquartered in Nottingham, United Kingdom with testing facilities in the US, joined AIM in May 2016 under the ticker ONC.L. For more information visit www.oncimmune.com

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 T-lymphocyte 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.

 

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