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LONDON (Alliance News) - Scancell Holdings PLC said Wednesday its Project Blueprint proposal was not selected for the Cancer Research UK Grand Challenge grant.
Shares in Scancell were down 15% in morning trade at 8.12 pence each.
Scancell - which develops immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer - said its Project Blueprint, a proposal to eradicate established tumours with unique cancer vaccines was shortlisted for the Grand Challenge, a research initiative from Cancer Research UK.
The Grand Challenge was set up to "revolutionise how cancer is diagnosed, prevented and treated". The grant allows "international multi-disciplinary teams the freedom to evaluate novel approaches, at scale, in the pursuit of life changing discoveries".
The grant awards GBP60 million across three research initiatives, expected to last five years.
Scancell's Project Blueprint - which was submitted with BioNTech, Genentech and ISA Pharmaceuticals - wanted to investigate the potential of cancer vaccines based on treatment with Modi-3, a Scancell product developed from its Moditope platform.
The proposal would also look into vaccines targeting "new mutations within individual patient tumours, for the treatment of virtually all cancers".
"We would like to congratulate the winners of Cancer Research UK's Grand Challenge, and to thank Cancer Research UK for putting the challenge forward to some of the best researchers in the world. The shortlisting of our proposal represents a significant scientific endorsement of Scancell's technology and the team remains committed to meeting the challenges of improving cancer vaccines for all patients," said Chief Scientific Officer Lindy Durant.
The winners, announced by Cancer Research UK, include, for the first time, several major US institutions. Brigham and Women's Hospital; Harvard Medical School; Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard University; TH Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University; and the University of California, San Francisco were all selected for the combined GBP60 million grant.
She added: "Scancell continues to be funded to initiate the planned phase 2 clinical study for our lead ImmunoBody, SCIB1, and to advance our lead Moditope vaccine, Modi-1, towards the clinic, and this remains our core focus for the immediate future."
