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.”