Business
Scancell Receives GBP250,000 emda Grant
Scancell Receives GBP250,000 emda Grant.
About this update from Scancell Holdings Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n \n26/01/2009\n\nGB00B39J5N63\n\n Scancell Holdings Plc \n\n (`Scancell Holdings' or the `Company') \n\n Scancell Receives £250,000 emda Development Grant \n\nScancell Holdings plc, the parent company of Scancell Limited (`Scancell'), the\ndeveloper of therapeutic cancer vaccines based on its patented ImmunoBody™\nplatform, is pleased to announce that it has been awarded a £250,000 Grant for\nResearch and Development (`GRD') by the East Midlands Development Agency\n(`emda'). The GRD will be used towards the costs of progressing Scancell's\nSCIB1 ImmunoBody DNA vaccine as it commences Good Manufacturing Practice\n(`GMP') production in 1Q2009 and applies for Clinical Trial Authorisation\n(`CTA') to commence clinical trials of SCIB1 in the UK in 1Q2010.\n\nScancell is developing SCIB1, a DNA vaccine for the potential treatment of\nlate-stage melanoma cancer patients. There are 8000 new cases of melanoma every\nyear in the UK with 1800 deaths per year. Early stage melanoma is often cured\nby surgery but advanced disease has a very poor prognosis with late stage\n(stage IV) disease having a median survival of approximately 6 months. SCIB1\nwas developed using Scancell's ImmunoBody™ technology and is engineered to\nexpress the TRP-2 and gp100 cytotoxic T-cell epitopes from tumour antigens. In\nanimal models, SCIB1 prevented the development of lung metastases and\nsignificantly inhibited the growth of established tumours.\n\nThe emda grant will be used to help fund the preparatory programme for phaseI/\nIIa clinical trials that are anticipated to commence in 2010. The programme\nincludes: optimisation of the ImmunoBody™; GMP process manufacture,\nformulation, stability and scale-up; pre-clinical efficacy and safety testing,\nand; toxicological assessment. The data derived from these studies will be\nutilised by Scancell in order to obtain CTA to allow the first clinical trial\nof SCIB1 in melanoma patients.\n\nemda is one of nine Regional Development Agencies in England, set up in 1999 to\nbring a regional focus to economic development. Its primary goal is to increase\nthe economic growth of the region while reducing disparities between the East\nMidlands and other English regions. The key role of emda is to be the strategic\ndriver of sustainable economic development, working in partnership with public,\nprivate and voluntar...