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A diagnostic that is able to detect the early immune effects of the drug candidate SCIB1 is to be incorporated into the phase II clinical trial of the cancer treatment being carried out by Scancell Holdings (LON:SCLP).
It follows some promising results from an earlier study using ImmunTraCkeR, developed by ImmunID.
ImmunTraCkeR will be used to identify the patients who will benefit most from the cutting edge immunotherapy.
Dr Bernhard Sixt, boss of ImmunID, hopes it will “help to shorten clinical trial times, accelerate regulatory approval in the field of immuno-oncology and enhance investor confidence."
“ImmunTraCkeR shows promise as an assay for predicting which patients will benefit most from SCIB1 and we are looking forward to conducting additional research on this during our planned checkpoint inhibitor combination trial," added professor Lindy Durrant, joint chief executive of Scancell.
Scancell’s SCIB1 is programmed to seek out and kill microscopic metastatic cells that are carried by the bloodstream to seed around the body.
Even more clever, it is designed specifically to target melanoma.
Scancell will deploy SCIB1, which uses the body’s immune system to target cancer, in combination with a checkpoint inhibitor to treat patients in the phase II trial.
The results from earlier studies have been impressive.
Deploying SCIB1 in combination would allow a more target approach to treating the disease.
Perhaps over-simplifying things here, the new generation of checkpoint inhibitors open the doors to cancer cells to allow the body’s immune system fight the disease.
Scancell has recruited a top team lead the next clinical trial.
We learned last week the principal investigator will be Dr Keith Flaherty, who is director of the Termeer Center for targeted therapy at Massachusetts General Hospital and an associate professor at Harvard Medical School.
Joining him will be doctors Jennifer Wargo and Michael Davies, specialists respectively in surgical oncology and melanoma oncology at MD Anderson, part of the University of Texas.
Also coming on board are Dr Paul Chapman from Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York and Dr Rene Gonzalez from the University of Colorado.
The shares were up 5% in afternoon trade at 22.52p following this morning's update, having been ahead 10% earlier in the session.
“We think this potentially broadens the attractiveness of the Scancell platform and reemphasises the value of patient stratification in clinical settings,” said Dr Mike Mitchell, analyst at stock broker Panmure Gordon, who reckons the stock is worth 79p.