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Great little Company, looking like it is through its growing pain stage, onwards and upwards

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Scancell Hlds
Patent Approval
RNS Number : 0217Z
Scancell Holdings Plc
09 March 2012


9 March 2012





Scancell Holdings plc

("Scancell" or "the Company")

ImmunoBody® Patent Approved in US



Scancell Holdings plc, (AIM: SCLP), the developer of therapeutic cancer vaccines, is pleased to announce that its protein ImmunoBody® vaccine patent has been approved in the United States. The patent, which has already been approved in Europe and Australia, will further strengthen Scancell's IP position around its proprietary ImmunoBody® vaccine platform.



Scancell's lead vaccine, SCIB1 is being developed for the treatment of melanoma and is currently in Phase I clinical trials. It is an innovative DNA vaccine being developed using Scancell's ImmunoBody® technology. Phase 2 trials are due to start in Q2 2012.



Dr. Richard Goodfellow, Joint Chief Executive of Scancell, commented:



"The USA remains the most important market in which to commercialise our ImmunoBody ® vaccines. The award of this US patent confirms the innovative nature of the ImmunoBody ® platform and provides a sound basis on which to commercialise the technology in the US. Scancell will continue building its growing portfolio of intellectual property in parallel with driving the clinical trial programme forward during 2012

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Especially......
Dr. Richard Goodfellow, Joint Chief Executive of Scancell, commented:



"The USA remains the most important market in which to commercialise our ImmunoBody ® vaccines. The award of this US patent confirms the innovative nature of the ImmunoBody ® platform and provides a sound basis on which to commercialise the technology in the US. Scancell will continue building its growing portfolio of intellectual property in parallel with driving the clinical trial programme forward during 2012


This is why all the excitement here.

Courtesy of the poster brigadon on LSE.


Make That A Billion Dollars!

After years of developing the melanoma antigens TRP - 2 and gp100 at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland, the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has entrusted Scancell with their commercial development. These antigens now form key components in the company's lead vaccine to treat melanoma, SCIB1.

The US Public Health Service, a division of HHS is due royalty payments on these antigens from future sales of SCIB1 so, to help realise a speedy return on its investment, the US National Institutes of Health, an agency of the US Department of Health has made the clinical trials data for SCIB1 available on its website, an important port of call for large pharmaceutical companies looking for new drugs and drug development businesses to acquire. [Scancell's board has expressed the intention to seek a 'trade sale' of the business upon completion of Phase II clinical trials of its lead vaccine SCIB1.]

In a recent presentation to analysts and investors Scancell made the point that large pharmaceutical companies were prepared to pay up to a billion dollars for a clinical stage cancer vaccine firm, such as Scancell, which had shown evidence of patient recovery from terminal forms of the disease after treatment with its products. In May 2010 it was revealed that an earlier version of SCIB1, configured at the time to treat bone cancer had indeed appeared to have cured two young patients of a terminal form of this condition.

It is this pedigree of Scancell's curative success, the watertight protection of its patents and the influential backing of the US Department of Health that any potential bidder will be buying into. So even if we were to assume the price being offered for Scancell, was only half of what has been offered in similar circumstances this could still amount to to an offer price of around 162p per share! Whatever the final price, it will certainly amount to many multiples of today's market price. I am therefore maintaining my Strong BUY recommendation for this stock.

Hmmm....'chance finding'.....Viagra was a chance finding.

Rodders

20 August 2012

Scancell Holdings Plc

('Scancell')


Market Update


The Board of Scancell (AIM:SCLP) have noted the continuous raise in its share price over the last 10 days and in particular following the announcement on 15 August 2012 relating to the Moditope vaccine technology platform.

The Board is actively evaluating its strategic options for the Moditope platform and will be consulting with key shareholders in this regard. As regards SCIB1, the cancer vaccine being developed for the treatment of melanoma and the Company's DNA ImmunoBody(R) vaccine technology upon which it is based, the Board reiterates that its strategy will be to seek a buyer on completion of the Phase I/II clinical trial, which is expected in late 2013.

The Board will update the market in due course.

-ENDS-

Duplicate!

Well done to all in this one

Helium Special Situations Fund Limited from 6.88% to 5.87%.

Scancell Holdings a biopharmaceutical company focused on the cancer therapeutics market, and the third-most popular 'buy' by TD Direct Investing's retail clients this morning. The shares are up 10% as I write these words, with bulletin board traffic -- as opposed to hard news or company statements -- the apparent cause.

That said, the shares are up 750% (yes, you read that right) this year, so investors will need to be confident that enough upside remains. Me?

Well this has had a roller coaster of a day for sure...

Scancell's amazing rise continues - UPDATE
Mon 08 Oct 2012

SCLP - Scancell Holdings

Latest Prices
Name Price %
Scancell Holdings 53.25p +4.41%

FTSE AIM All-Share 702 -0.72%
Pharmaceuticals & Biotechnology 9,833 -0.56%

LONDON (SHARECAST) - Scancell, the developer of therapeutic cancer vaccines, continued its amazing price rise in early morning trade on Monday to become a 10-bagger in only a few months.

It has apparently been propelled by hopes its news technology platform for anti-cancer vaccines, called Moditope, will be able to successfully produce an anti-cancer vaccine that destroys tumours without toxicity.

David Lowery, equity analyst at Faraday Research told Digital Look that the development was “potentially ground-breaking” and that “If the discovery is as big as it sounds the shares are potentially worth several pounds.”

Canny investor David Newton, from the Helium Special Situations fund, has been a long term holder of the company and has a stake of 6.88%.

In mid-morning trade the shares stood at 59.5p, up 16.67% on the day. The share price is now 80% higher over the past month and up a whopping 1,000% over the last year.

Yeah...that good....:-)

Final Results

Highlights during the period:

· In July 2011, Scancell raised £1.58 million, net of expenses, by way of a placing of new shares

· New lung cancer vaccine, SCIB2 - latest anti-tumour results in animal models provide further validation of ImmunoBody® vaccine technology platform and its commercial potential

· In November 2011, received milestone payment from Arana Therapeutics of £2.49 million net of costs

· Completion of recruitment to Phase 1 of the clinical trial for SCIB1 in April 2012

· Profit for the year of £557,058 (2011:loss £1,649,225)

· Cash at year end £3,529,007 (2011: £1,110,630)

Post period highlights:
· On 15 August, 2012 Scancell announced the development of a new platform technology, ModitopeÔ, that stimulates the production of killer CD4 T cells with powerful anti-tumour activity.

Share Nominees Ltd > 9%

SCIB1 Trial-Higher Dose Allowed in Phase 1/2 Trial

Scancell Holdings Plc, (AIM:SCLP), the developer of therapeutic cancer vaccines, is pleased to announce that the Gene Therapy Advisory Committee ('GTAC') and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency ('MHRA') Medicines Division have given their approval to dose an extra group of patients with a higher, 8 mg, dose of SCIB1, its DNA ImmunoBody® vaccine being developed for the treatment of melanoma.

The new cohort will recruit up to six more patients and will be recruited in parallel with the patients being recruited into Part 2 of the study. Patients with metastatic tumour present may enter the new cohort so that their tumour response can be assessed, whereas patients who have had their tumours surgically removed may enter Part 2. In addition, Scancell's partner Ichor Medical Systems ('Ichor') has obtained the required parallel approval from the MHRA Devices Division for the use of Ichor's TriGrid™ electroporation delivery device to administer SCIB1 to this additional group of patients."

Scancell is planning to start treating patients with the 8mg dose in the new year.

Update on patient recruitment in clinical trial

Update on patient recruitment in the ongoing SCIB1 clinical trial


Scancell Holdings Plc, (AIM:SCLP), the developer of therapeutic cancer vaccines, today announces the recruitment and treatment of the final patient in the second part of its Phase 1/2 clinical trial of SCIB1, its DNA ImmunoBody® vaccine being developed for the treatment of melanoma. This part of the trial is being conducted in five UK centres in patients with Stage III/IV disease to further assess the safety of treatment and to assess the cellular immune response induced by SCIB1. Patients are being treated with a 4mg dose of SCIB1 on five occasions over a period of 6 months.

In December 2012, Scancell released preliminary evidence from Part 1 of the study showing that SCIB1 produced an immune response which might be associated with clinical benefit in patients with malignant melanoma. Also in December 2012, Scancell announced that the Gene Therapy Advisory Committee ('GTAC') and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency ('MHRA') Medicines Division had given their approval to dose an extra group of patients with a higher, 8 mg, dose of SCIB1. Scancell is planning to start treating patients with the 8mg dose shortly.

Half Yearly Report

Highlights

· Encouraging preliminary results from Part 1 of the Phase 1/2 clinical trial for SCIB1 announced in December 2012

· First evidence that the vaccine is producing an immune response in cancer patients which may also be associated with clinical benefit

· Approval received to dose an extra group of patients with a higher, 8mg, dose of SCIB1

· Recruitment and treatment of the final patient in the second part of its Phase 1/2 clinical trial of SCIB1

ImmunoBody® Patent Approved for Grant in Japan.

Scancell Holdings Plc, (AIM:SCLP), the developer of therapeutic cancer vaccines, is pleased to announce that a patent for its protein ImmunoBody® vaccine technology has been approved for grant in Japan. The patent has already been approved in the US, Europe and Australia.

SCANCELL CHALLENGES THE NINE HUNDRED

Currently there are around 900 cancer vaccines in various stages of clinical trials. These 900 candidates represent a series of diverse approaches to the production of therapeutic cancer vaccines. Some include genetically engineered oncolytic viruses. Some include entire immune system transplants. Some include cancer antigens extracted from patients' urine, purified and mixed with alum. Some try to get away with a single antigen to treat all types of cancer; the so called universal approach. And some mix cancer antigens with the pulverized cell walls of bacteria to spark an immune response that way. But it is widely acknowledged that the most effective therapeutic cancer vaccines so far have been those which get patients' dendritic cells to absorb or retain on their surface cancer antigens specific to the particular cancer being treated. Scancell makes these latter kind of vaccines, called dendritic cell vaccines.

To date a number of companies have demonstrated that they can target dendritic cells ex vivo (outside the patient's body; having extracted them from the patient first) but only Scancell has been able to produce vaccines capable of targeting dendritic cells in vivo (while they are still in the patient's body).

So far only one company's vaccine has been approved by the FDA for commercial use. This company is the Dendreon Corporation and their vaccine is of course a dendritic cell vaccine. But it has one severe limitation. It can only target dendritic cells ex vivo by extracting them from each patient, before treating the cells for reinfusing back into the same patient again; a process which is inconvenient and prohibitively expensive. Scancell's one batch treats all approach therefore poses a serious threat to Dendreon's dominance of the global therapeutic cancer vaccine market. Hence the remarkable growth of Scancell's share price.

This is what Scancell says about its technology:

"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."


Research link:
http://www.scancell.co.uk/Apps/Content/html/?fid=6

SCANCELL SPELLS OUT THE LIMITATIONS OF ITS RIVALS

Cancer vaccines represent a highly attractive approach to cancer therapy. In contrast to current treatments such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy, small non-toxic doses of a vaccine may be administered to a patient to stimulate an immune response. It is generally accepted that to be effective against cancer, a vaccine needs to target dendritic cells to stimulate both parts of the cellular immune system; the helper cell system (known as the CD4-mediated response) which stimulates inflammation at the tumour site; and the cytotoxic T-lymphocyte or CTL response (known as the CD8-mediated response) in which cells of the immune system 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 the present limitations of cancer vaccines.

Research link:
http://www.scancell.co.uk/Apps/Content/html/?fid=6

SCANCELL'S SKIN CANCER VACCINE TRIAL RESULTS

Here is a useful and informative post from Alan Turing, a poster with a good scientific background who writes on LSE's Scancell Chat. He is commenting on the recent Phase 1 results for Scancell's lead vaccine to treat melanoma, SCIB1:


PHASE 1 PRELIMINARY RESULTS

Well they were pretty astonishing really. Firstly because they were only measuring a group of patients in a study to test for toxicity, so there were only a few patients who actually received the vaccine at full strength.

The key 'stand out' was the tumour shrinkage in the patient with lung metastases. Dendritic cell vaccines have never before shrunk tumours without a toxic additive. Gp100 for instance was the first dendritic cell vaccine that was said, with much fanfare, to shrink tumours but only with the addition of the highly toxic Interleukin 2 (which defeats the purpose of using a non-toxic dendritic cell vaccine in my book). But previously without this additive Gp100 showed no signs of being able to shrink tumours. This is the most important achievement so far by SCIB1. It now has to repeat this in the proposed 8mg dose trial. If this tumour shrinking capability is confirmed then SCIB1 will have outdone all previous dendritic cell vaccines.

This extra power may be a result of its DNA delivery. The ImmunoBody vaccine consists of strands of DNA which are like a computer program. This DNA program is processed by the patient's healthy cells very much like a computer. Tens of thousands of antibodies are produced by the patient as instructed by Scancell's DNA program. Each antibody is shaped like a Y and on one of the arms of the Y is a 'pretend' cancer chemical unique to the cancer being treated. These antibodies, which in SCIB1's case, 'smell' like melanoma, stick to the surface of the immune system's sentinel cells (dendritic cells). They go crazy. To them they are covered in a foreign material that should definitely not be there. They then charge in their thousands to warn the immune system that something foreign has entered the body that needs to be searched for and destroyed. The immune system's army of T cells is dispatched. First the sappers, the Helper T-cells. They find the tumours and mark out a killing zone and change the blood chemistry inside this zone to make the tumours easier to kill. Then come the commandos, the Killer T-Cells to burst and destroy the tumours there.

This is so far ahead of what Dendreon does, Scancell's main competitor, that I suppose its no wonder that it achieved these promising results, albeit in just one particular patient. All eyes should be on the upcoming 8mg tumour trial, because so far, apart from its non-patient specific capability, the ability to shrink and eradicate tumours unaided is Scancell's most thrilling achievement. They have the pharmaceutical industry's attention for sure. Now they must show that they can repeat this success. I'm looking forward to the next instalment.

The market potential for dendritic cell vaccines is considerable. Scancell's vaccine is the only DNA (non-patient specific) version that has been shown to elicit an immune response. So if I was a buyer for a large pharmaceutical company looking for a dendritic cell vaccine to enter that sector of the market I would definitely choose Scancell's product first. The ability to shrink tumours is a unique one among this class of therapuetics so whatever this vaccine achieves on that front would be a bonus.

Bullrunner - thanks for the above post.

I looked at DNDN last summer before deciding to opt for SCLP - the former are also on a bit of a run recently and are ISA'ble.

SCANCELL'S RISE IS DENDREON'S DOOM!

The Dendreon Corporation is the one and only global leader in therapeutic cancer vaccines. The technology they use requires extracting immune system alarm cells (dendritic cells) from the patient's blood, pulsing them with cancer antigens and injecting them back into that same patient. This has proved prohibitively expensive. Scancell therefore designed an alternative solution and has provided the industry and the regulatory authorities with a more commercially viable product: a DNA dendtritic cell vaccine which coats the alarm cells with epitopes of cancer antigens while those alarm cells are still in the patient's body. This provides a solution with no rejection problems and can therefore be given to any number of patients without having to manufacture a fresh batch.

Dendreon's Provenge, to treat prostate cancer, is the first and only therapeutic cancer vaccine commercially approved to date but the business model behind it is fatally flawed and the industry knows it. The treatment is simply unaffordable. So as Dendreon's stock has plummeted, Scancell's stock has risen, making Scancell London's best performing stock of 2012. Without doubt Scancell remains the most significant ongoing threat to Dendreon's dominance.

Research link:
Scancell's ImmunoBody® Vaccines