Stefan Bernstein explains how the EU/Greenland critical raw materials partnership benefits GreenRoc. Watch the full video here.
Lofas,
It's a regulatory RNS, management have no choice.
Konar,
The RNS says they were appointed on 3rd October 2023 so I think we have to assume that's the date of their permanent appointment. Interestingly there is no mention of them prior to the December fundraise but every RNS issued since January lists them at the end as joint broker along with Panmure and Stifel. That's how we became aware of their appointment and what triggered the discussion on this bb back in early February - have copied my post from 5th Feb below:-
'Bermudashorts
Posted in: SCLP
Posts: 12,586
Price: 11.625
No Opinion
RE: Directorate change5 Feb 2024 09:13
Ee
Regarding the composition of the Board, it will be interesting to see but Sally's departure has no impact on Audit/Remuneration/Nominations committees so they don't have to replace her and can probably quite comfortably continue as they are. I still think at some stage it would be good to have a CFO on the board.
As for WG Partners, I know they acted as joint bookrunner in last placing, but they're not listed on Scancell's website as joint broker and I understood the appointment of a broker had to be notified. Unless I've missed that announcement, they simply seem to have appeared at the bottom of RNS's as joint broker.'
Yes, has been discussed this here previously, not exactly a surprise - if you check you'll see that WG are down as joint broker on every RNS issued for the last few months. Scancell still need to update their website and while they're at it they could also have a look at updating the Directors' Share Options section and the name of their auditors.
As for why today? I expect they're just tidying up loose ends as they approach the financial year end.
Bob,
I don't need to bother Lindy Durrant. In your 13.59 You've stated that combining CPIs with SCIB1+ will extend the patent life of the CPI by 10 years and that simply isn't the case. I've tried my best to explain why.
For the sake of clarity, any other party wanting to use Scancell's tech to extend the patent life of their mAbs will have to license the Avidimab platform and pay for it - it doesn't come for free as an added bonus with a cancer vaccine that is showing an 85% response rate in combination. It's an important distinction for any newbies looking in.
Bob,
Combining iSCIB1+ with a checkpoint inhibitor has no impact on the patent of the CPI. As you say, the patent life of SCIB1 was extended by enhancing it with Avidimab but that doesn't mean in turn it extends the patent of any mAbs used in combination.
Avidimab is a technology developed by Scancell which involves modifying the Fc region of a monoclonal antibody to increase avidity and promote direct killing ability and has the potential to be applied to any mAb. The mAb would need to be re-engineered with the Avidimab modifications and it's this that extends the patent life.
In short, if developers of checkpoint inhibitors or indeed any other mAbs want to extend the patent life of their product, combining with iSCIB1+ won't do it - they'd have to pay to license Avidimab.
Bob
That's not quite right. iSCIB1+ doesn't extend the patent life of the CPIs.
Chester,
IMO the most important near term news is that recruitment to the SCIB1 clinical trial is complete and top line results for stage 2 of the SCIB1 study are as good as stage 1.
Bojo,
I agree.
Anyone with even the most basic level of research here will know that the whole liquid biopsy field is an emerging market at the cutting edge of science. The eventual size and value of that market depends entirely on the information CTCs are able to provide and whether or not it is clinically useful. The only way to establish that is through development of assays and processes to enable that information to be extracted.
As you know, following a huge amount of intensive r&d work, Angle have created and recently launched an immunofluorescence staining kit and HER2 assay. Remembering that every single breast cancer patient should have HER2 testing it makes absolute commercial sense as part of the launch to present at such a high profile conference. You only have to look at the international press coverage over the last couple of days to appreciate the attention this conference is attracting not least due to some big phase 3 read outs including Merck's Keynote 756 and Roche's IMpassion030 trials.
So we have new products being launched to top experts and big pharma at a conference being closely watched by industry media. Let's give credit where credit it due and welcome this for the positive step that it is.
Hadley,
I think it may have been Keytruda rather than Yervoy. Updated results from Merck's Keynote 756 trial were presented yesterday at the European Breast Cancer Conference in Milan. The trial is investigating Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) in combination with chemo in the neoadjuvant (before surgery) and adjuvant (after surgery) setting in early breast cancer. The study is showing that Keytruda may benefit a much wider group of patients - good news for Merck and other anti PD-1 developers and excellent news for patients.
https://event.eortc.org/ebcc14/2024/03/20/ebcc-14-news-new-data-show-pembrolizumab-improves-breast-cancer-outcomes-regardless-of-age-or-menopausal-status/
Konar,
Agreed, Sally Adams is the most likely candidate although you'd have thought she'd have exercised her 8.5p options rather than 10p. I'm assuming it's been rounded to 10p on the form but refers to the 10.5p options because as far as I know Scancell have never issued any options with an exercise price of 10p to any directors although I guess they could have issued them to other key staff or suppliers/collaborators/partners.
Haven't been able to keep up with the bb recently and I suspect this has already been posted, but I was researching another stock today and came across the Immuno-Oncology Summit taking place in London on 24th and 25th April. This is from the agenda:-
'Clinical Update on the DC Targeting Melanoma Vaccine, SCIB1 and The Modi-1 Vaccine Targeting Citrullination
Lindy Durrant, BSc, PhD, Professor, CEO, Scancell Ltd.
SCIB1 a DC targeting DNA vaccine gives at impressive 85% response rate in combination with ipilimumab and nivolumab in advanced melanoma. Citrullination occurs in stressed tumor cells and makes an excellent target for a universal cancer vaccine. Modi-1 targeting citrullination is currently in phase II clinical trial'
It's interesting that this follows hot on the heels of AACR where Lindy will be presenting SCIB1 results but neither conference featured on the recent RNS. I assume we'll be getting another RNS in due course outlining any conferences Lindy is attending and look forward to seeing whether that also includes ASCO.
https://www.immuno-oncologyeurope.com/cancer-vaccines#
Konar,
I believe Keith Flaherty has moved onwards and upwards and he's no longer actively involved as investigator in clinical trials but think it's highly likely that Scancell would like Mass General too be one of the study centres for the phase II/III. It will be interesting to see whether they're able to get any big US names involved.
Konar,
I hadn't picked up that Lindy was making an oral presentation at AACR so thanks for that.
The Keith Flaherty link is interesting and highlights how impressive it was that Scancell were able to attract an expert of such calibre in the first place. We'll never know whether he had any input into the selection of the SCIB1 results for presentation. It may simply be the case that cancer vaccines are now attracting a huge amount of interest and there actually aren't that many around so any reporting clinical results are likely to be selected.
This is a significant moment for Scancell. Reporting of phase 2 clinical trial results is an important milestone for any biotech/pharma and Scancell has had to battle to develop SCIB1 against a backdrop of lack of interest and scepticism towards cancer vaccines from industry and investors alike. It's good to see Lindy Durrant being given the opportunity to present those results at one of the biggest scientific confences in the World and at a time when there is renewed hope and interest surrounding the whole field. She deserves this moment and I hope she enjoys every second.
Miavoce,
Scancell have said that recruitment to the SCIB1 arm of the Scope trial should be complete in Q1 and the title of the AACR presentation does seem to suggest that they'll be presenting results from the study although I guess they won't include scans from some of the later patients.
'A DNA plasmid melanoma cancer vaccine, SCIB1, combined with nivolumab + ipilimumab in patients with advanced unresectable melanoma: Efficacy and safety results from the open-label Phase 2 SCOPE Trial'
In terms of an RNS, I'm sure Scancell will be keen to close the SCIB1 arm to recruitment and move swiftly to iSCIB1+ as it may be problematical to recruit to SCIB1 when what is believed to be an improved version of the vaccine is also recruiting. Much cleaner and neater if there is no choice to make for the investigators. So I hope/expect that in the near term we'll at least get an RNS to announce SCIB1 is fully recruited and possibly an update on results at the same time.
Ray - good point and of course also worth remembering that Scancell took the strategic decision to bring formulation work /manufacturing process development in-house.
Scancell have told us that they intend to follow the current trial with a phase 2/3 for iSCIB1+ and that they'll run it in the US and UK which means they need to apply for clinical trial approval to both the MHRA and FDA. Those applications will require comprehensive CMC data packages and it may be that Scancell are planning ahead and getting the right resources in place in advance. Howver, even with the current trials there is an ongoing requirement for oversight and controls of CMC processes and the need to make submissions to the regulators if there are any manufacturing changes.
It looks like this new recruit is going to be busy.
Worth doing a bit of research into Lisa Anson's background if you're going to make judgement calls about her remuneration package. She has a wealth of commercial experience in the sector including as President of AstraZeneca UK. She is also ex-president of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry and a current board member of the Bio-Industry Association. She's about as well connected as you can get and it was a coup for Redx when they managed to persuade her to leave AstraZeneca to rebuild the company.
Finding and retaining top quality CEOs is a real issue for the UK biotech sector and I believe Lisa is arguably the best or one of the very best on AIM. She would have been instrumental in attracting the blue chip life sciences specialist funds to Redx and her remuneration package would be average in the US. I hope it's sufficient to retain her services.
Nomadme,
Bios attend and present at both scientific and investor conferences all the time, but when it comes to scientific conferences there are 3 major conferences that are the holy grail when it comes to presenting cancer research and they are the AACR (American Association for Cancer Research), ASCO (American Society of Clinical Oncology) and ESMO (European Society for Medical Oncology) annual meetings.
These conferences have tens of thousands of attendees from all over the world and attract the best experts presenting the best and most exciting research. If you want your research or trial results to reach the biggest possible audience of industry insiders and fellow scientists then there is no better place to do it.
It seems that progress has been made with the Angle/BioView collaboration on the HER2 assay. They are presenting a joint poster at AACR in April which details prgress. Title as follows:-
'3705 / 17 - Development and analytical validation of a novel assay for HER2 assessment on circulating tumor cells using Parsortix® isolation and BioView imaging technologies'
From the conclusion:-
' An assay integrating HER2 identification by IF and FISH to characterize CTCs in metastatic BC patients was successfully developed. The assay enables the identification of both HER2 protein and gene copy information from each target cell with minimal cell loss, with the potential for minimally invasive patient monitoring during treatment and better classification of patients who may qualify and benefit from HER2-targeted therapies. An added value of the assay is the practicality of utilizing preserved blood samples, allowing streamline batch shipping of clinical samples'
https://www.abstractsonline.com/pp8/#!/20272/presentation/1909
I don't know why Scancell haven't issued an RNS this morning as others have done, but looks like they're presenting a poster at AACR in San Diego in April. Lindy Durrant is down to present in the 'Cancer Vaccines: Ready for Prime Time?' session and seems that we'll be getting the SCIB1 results.
'CT024 - A DNA plasmid melanoma cancer vaccine, SCIB1, combined with nivolumab + ipilimumab in patients with advanced unresectable melanoma: Efficacy and safety results from the open-label Phase 2 SCOPE Trial'
https://www.abstractsonline.com/pp8/#!/20272/session/663
Just for clarity, the decision as to whether the loan notes are repaid in cash or with stock is completely down to Redmile - Scancell have no say in the matter and we should expect the CLNs to be converted. It's likely that Redmile would seek either a partial or full exit at the same time. The last sentence is obviously just IMO.