The latest Investing Matters Podcast episode featuring financial educator and author Jared Dillian has been released. Listen here.
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Lindy is presenting at the Cambridge Healthtech Institute's 8th annual Immuno-Oncology Summit Europe 2024.
23- 25th April.
She will be presenting at 14.45 on April 23rd, titled
Clinical update on the DC Targeting Melanoma Vaccine, SCIB1 and The Modi-1 Vaccine Targeting Citrullination.
https://www.immuno-oncologyeurope.com/cancer-vaccines
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Scancell will be presenting at two events in March,.
Firstly Lindy Durrant will be presenting at Next-Gen Immuno Oncology Conference on 7th-8th March 2024 in London.
Secondly, Mireille Vankemmelbeke will be presenting at Biologics 2024 on 13th-15th March 2024 also in London.
https://events.marketsandmarkets.com/immuno-oncology-conference-london/
https://oxfordglobal.com/biologics/events/biologics-2024#speakers
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The World Vaccine Congress Europe 2023 will take place 16-19 October 2023 in Barcelona, Spain.
Lindy will be speaking on Thursday 19th at 11am.
https://www.terrapinn.com/conference/world-vaccine-congress-europe/agenda.stm
Part 4
Executive summary
Age 65 Family Married with two grownup children.
Education Grangefield grammar school in Stockton-onTees, County Durham; BSc in biochemistry and PhD in cancer chemotherapy at Manchester University, where she was also a postdoctoral scientist.
Pay Total package was £376,875 in 2022.
Last holiday Tampa, Florida.
Best advice she’s been given Learn to juggle family and work so both are happy.
Biggest career mistake Not starting immunology earlier.
Word she overuses ‘Basically.’ How she relaxes Long rural walks.
https://www.pressreader.com/uk/the-observer/20230618/282488598146303
Part 3
In a presentation to a large cancer conference in Chicago in early June, Scancell said the Modi-1 vaccine was well tolerated by patients and the early data on its effectiveness when given alone was encouraging.
It looks most promising as a treatment for head and neck cancer, where “surgery is quite debilitating and … it’s very disfiguring”, though Durrant cautions: “I don’t think it will be for every patient.”
Boston-based Moderna, whose Covid jab has been a huge commercial success, is also working on a melanoma vaccine and hopes to start latestage trials before the end of 2023. Durrant says her rival’s vaccine is personalised, targeting the patient’s specific mutations, whereas Scancell’s vaccine “is for everyone”.
Scancell, backed by US specialist healthcare investor Redmile, which has injected £40m, floated on London’s junior Aim (Alternative Investment Market) stock exchange in 2010 and has a market value of about £120m. If the trials work well, a Nasdaq listing in New York will be “a realistic opportunity” to raise more money, Durrant says.
And what of the government’s ambition to turn the UK into a life sciences superpower? “The problem they have to a large extent is you need to specialise in a particular area and you need to put quite a bit of money behind it. [Ministers] could never make that decision.”
The pandemic has, however, brought public attention to novel medicines. “There has been a bit of a positive trend into cancer as well. We struggled a bit with cancer vaccines because there’s not an approved cancer vaccine to date [apart from HPV]. So people are very sceptical about whether you can make it work,” Durrant says.
In the past, she found when she talked about her job: “Everybody is going ‘ugh’. At a dinner party, the immunologist, boring scientist – don’t sit next to her.” Now she finds people ask her: “‘What’s an antibody? What’s a T-cell? Is this vaccine working? Which vaccine would you have, Lindy?’ People understand a bit more.”
Education Grangefield grammar school in Stockton-onTees, County Durham; BSc in biochemistry and PhD in cancer chemotherapy at Manchester University, where she was also a postdoctoral scientist.
Part 2
Unlike most other jabs, though, the Scancell vaccine is delivered via needle-free, spring-powered injectors that use a narrow stream of fluid to penetrate the skin. “People loved it. I can’t believe how many people are needle-phobic even postpandemic,” says Durrant.
She recalls how she always wanted to be a scientist and loved experiments. Slightly dyslexic, she was “never particularly good in junior school”, but was soon top of the class at a grammar school. “Nobody cared how I wrote any more,” she says. Instead, they wanted to know: “Did I understand the concepts?”
After completing a BSc in biochemistry and her PhD in cancer chemotherapy at Manchester University, Durrant moved in the early 1980s to Nottingham, the centre of cancer immunotherapy in the UK. There she “fell in love with immunology” and the potential to harness the body’s immune system to fight disease.
Scancell’s main focus remains cancer treatments. It is testing two therapies on patients: one for skin cancer – again, given via a needle-free injector – and another, named Modi-1, for solid tumours in head and neck, breast, renal and ovarian cancers.
Durrant learned from rheumatoid arthritis how “stressed” cells alert the immune system that they need to be killed. “I thought, well, autoimmune disease is sort of what we’re trying to do against cancer. We’re trying to get you to recognise your own cancer and kill it … I was like, I wonder if T-cells will attack cancer? Yes, that was the novelty, basically.”
In 2011, when the company started testing its vaccines in mice, “the tumours disappeared completely”, she recalls. Initially, she was so surprised, she assumed it was a mistake and asked the postdoctoral researcher to rerun the experiment: “And she did it again, and there were no tumours. I was like, wow!”
The cancer vaccines are being trialled on their own, and in combination with other drugs known as immune checkpoint inhibitors that help alert T-cells to kill tumours. In melanoma, checkpoint inhibitor drugs help to cure about 55% of patients, but only 20% of people with head and neck cancer.
Biotech pioneer Lindy Durrant of Scancell Profile
‘Cancer is my game,” says Prof Lindy Durrant, an immunologist who is the founder and chief executive of Scancell, a pioneering firm developing vaccines that could offer a needle-free protection against Covid-19 as well as novel treatments against cancer.
Founded in 1997 on the back of her Nottingham University research, the Oxford-based company’s work on treatments that stimulate the body’s immune system to fight cancer and infectious disease has put it in a cluster of promising British biotechnology companies.
While most vaccines are taken preventatively, there is no jab to prevent cancer, apart from the HPV (human papillomavirus) injection for the virus that triggers most cervical cancer. “Probably 50% to 60% of people will get cancer and die of it,” says Durrant. “There are probably 200 different types of cancer. Each of them has a very different signature. So to design a vaccine that covers them all is really hard.”
Instead, Scancell developed therapeutic jabs that aim to halt or reverse its spread, earning Durrant the Waldenström award from the Swedish Society of Oncology in 2019.
After Covid was declared a pandemic three years ago, she and her team “felt we should do something”. One of their experimental cancer vaccines looked promising. “We thought, right, we can adapt this quite nicely to Covid. With the advantage that the vaccine was very much towards stimulating good T-cell responses.”
T-cells are white blood cells that form a vital part of the immune system. While Covid vaccines mainly generate antibodies that stick to the virus and stop it infecting the body, the new vaccines being developed by Scancell and other companies prime T-cells to find and kill infected or tumour cells.
Scancell began testing its vaccine against Covid variants in October 2021. By that time, the UK had the AstraZeneca-Oxford University jab, and because these companies, along with the rival Pfizer-BioNTech collaboration, “moved at lightning speed, the decision was made – we can’t compete with big pharma”, says Durrant.
However, early clinical results were positive and Scancell is looking for a partner to take its vaccine forward as a booster, as the virus continues to mutate. An estimated 10% of people will experience symptoms of long Covid, with at least 65 million predicted to be affected.
Last week's excellent article about Trish is on page 7 of this week's Runcorn and Widnes weekly news, with the new headline 'Mum's 'huge shock' as her cancer returns'
'Trish said: “My options were pretty limited, and the outlook did not look very good.
The tumour kept growing slowly after immunotherapy, which boosts the body’s immune system to help fight the cancer. In an effort to save her life, Trish was offered an experimental drug designed for patients with hard-to-treat tumours as part of a clinical trial at Clatterbridge Cancer Centre.
She’s one of the first people in the UK to join the ModiFY research trial, which is testing an experimental cancer drug, Modi-1, in humans for the first time.
Trish described it as a “no-brainer” to join the trial of this drug created by pharmaceutical company Scancell Holdings. She said: “I decided to jump right in, and I’m really pleased I did.”
Her tumour is now half the size it was when Trish started taking the vaccine in September last year.
“I feel absolutely brilliant – it is the easiest treatment I’ve ever had. There have been no real side-effects. And this is one of the remarkable things, that it has been a total breeze compared to other cancer treatments, such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy.'
Let's hope other news outlets pick up on Trish's story, as it is such a positive one.
https://www.pressreader.com/uk/runcorn-widnes-weekly-news/20230518/281655374429300
A brief mention for Scancell on page 62 in today's Daily Mail.
'Elsewhere, biotechnology group Scancell shot up 11.1pc, or 2p, to 20p after positive early clinical results from it's vaccine to treat four different types of cancer'
https://www.pressreader.com/uk/daily-mail/20230222/282548727457287
A pinned tweet is important information that stays at the top of a twitter feed.
For the first time since June of last year Scancell have changed their pinned tweet with today's news about Modify.
This shows how confident Scancell are with today's announcement.
Scancell is on page 62 as today’s Stockwatch in the Daily Mail.
‘SCANCELL cashed in on a deal to develop and commercialise an antibody to treat diseases such as cancer. The clinical stage biotech group signed a licence agreement in October with the Danish company Genmab – being paid £5.3m a month later. But the cost of investing in research and development meant it made a loss of £3.2m in the six months to October. It had £24m of cash at the end of October, down from £28.7m in April. Its shares fell 8pc, or 2p, to 23p.‘
https://www.pressreader.com/uk/daily-mail/20230126/282763475766936
Just a reminder that Katherine Cook, Senior Scientist at Scancell, is presenting at 2.40pm today at the Festival of Biologics in Basel.
https://www.terrapinn.com/conference/festival-of-biologics/Agenda.stm
Scancell are featured on Stock watch, page 66 in today’s Daily Mail.
‘Daily Mail
¦ INVESTORS in Scancell cheered after the biotechnology group landed a £544m deal.
The company will work with Danish-based Genmab, which is listed on the Copenhagen stock exchange and the Nasdaq exchange in New York, to develop and commercialise an antibody to treat illnesses such as cancer.
Scancell chief executive Lindy Durrant hailed the deal with Genmab.
Shares surged 17.3pc, or 2.3p, to 15.4p.'
https://www.pressreader.com/search?query=Scancell&orderBy=Date&hideSimilar=0&type=2
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Two presentations at two conferences in November.
Lindy will be presenting on the second day, November 3rd at 15.40 at the Festival of Biologics in Basel (Nov 2 -4).
'Homocitrullination of lysine residues mediated by MDSCs in the tumour environment makes an excellent target for cancer Immunotherapy.
Therapeutic Vaccine Development.'
https://www.terrapinn.com/conference/festival-of-biologics/Agenda.stm#festivalofbiologicsday2
Foram Dave will be presenting on the second day, 15th November at 10.00 at PEGS Europe, in Barcelona (Nov 14-16).
' FucosylGM1 Glycolipid-Targeting T Cell Redirecting Bispecific Antibody for SCLC Treatment
Foram Dave, PhD, Scientist, Scancell
Fucosyl-GM1 is a glycosphingolipid that is highly expressed in 75-90% of SCLC tumours. We have generated a high affinity monoclonal antibody SC134, against fucosylGM1 and used it as a scaffold for a T cell redirecting bispecific antibody (TCB). SC134-TCB simultaneously binds to fucosylGM1 and CD3. The functional characterisation of the SC134-TCBs will be presented including their binding characteristics, impact on T cell activation, cytokine production and SCLC killing.'
https://www.pegsummiteurope.com/emerging-targets#ForamDave
'Senior Scientist, T-cell immunology (Nottingham)
This position will support Scancell’s clinical trials using immunological assays performed in accordance with the study protocols. These assays are part of the clinical trial endpoints and will be used to assess the immunological responses to the Company’s vaccines in cancer patients or healthy donors.
The post holder will join the Translational Research group. The position is full time and will allow for flexible working hours to accommodate the arrival of clinical trial samples from the study sites.
Key duties and responsibilities:
Perform immunology-based assays such as T cell culture, ELISpot assay, flow cytometry, cell killing, multiplex assays using the Mesoscale discovery platform. Perform T cell-based assays, including isolation and culture of T cells from tumours or peripheral blood samples. Perform immunological assays on clinical trial samples in accordance with the clinical trial study protocols. Take a lead role in the management of patient sample analysis, planning and coordinating assays/resources. Conduct comprehensive data analysis, data presentation, report writing and communication of results. Be responsible for line management of a technician.'
https://jobs.newscientist.com/en-gb/job/1401764314/senior-scientist-t-cell-immunology-nottingham-/
Moditope is 10 years old today.
On August 15th 2012,
Moditope was introduced to the world in the form of an RNS.
Richard Goodfellow, back then, said Moditope was a serendipity discovery and when Lindy sent him the email about it, he photocopied it, framed it and hung it on his office wall.
More recently Lindy Durrant said 'There has been a dramatic regression of large tumours in preclinical models. One injection and the tumour melts away within 4 days'
Let's hope that Lindy and Richard are right and Moditope with the other Scancell platforms are successful, not just for the long term holders on this bb, but also for the patients suffering around the world.
Good publicity for Scancell in today's BioTuesday.
BioTuesday is published by Kilmer Lucas, one of North America's leading healthcare only investor relations firms.
'Pharmajet partner Scancell will include PharmaJet’s needle-free delivery system in a Phase 2 clinical study of a vaccine for treatment of patients with advanced melanoma.
Scancell’s immunotherapy platform uses the body’s immune system to identify, attack and destroy tumors. In an earlier Phase 1/2 clinical trial, 89% of the resected patients survived for more than five years following vaccination with Scancell’s SCIB1 vaccine.
The Phase 2 study is designed to assess whether the addition of SCIB1 treatment to pembrolizumab or ipilimumab/nivolumab results in an improvement in patient outcomes for patients with metastatic disease.
The updated protocol adds needle-free injection with the PharmaJet Stratis system as Scancell believes needle-free delivery could improve patient acceptance.
Scancell is also using one of PharmaJet’s WHO-prequalified needle-free Injection systems for delivery of two SARS-CoV-2 DNA vaccine candidates, currently being evaluated in South Africa.
In a statement, Chris Cappello, president and CEO of closely-held PharmaJet, said that in addition to increasing patient acceptance, “our partners have published data showing superior results to electroporation, and improved immunogenicity with DNA vaccines.”
https://biotuesdays.com/2022/08/02/pharmajet-partner-scancell-to-use-needle-free-delivery-with-melanoma-vaccine/
'Are more powerful vaccines coming? Shots targeting T cells show promise'
Although Scancell are not mentioned, Scancell have just retweeted the article.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/are-more-powerful-vaccines-coming-shots-targeting-t-cells-show-promise
ISA Pharmaceuticals announce new trial testing technology for cancers.
'Professor Lindy Durrant, chief executive officer, Scancell, concluded,"This is the first time we have taken a product from our Moditope platform into cancer patients and is a major step forward for Scancell and our collaboration with ISA Pharmaceuticals. We are very excited about the prospects for Modi-1 based on the dramatic regression of large tumors in our preclinical models."
https://www.pharmatimes.com/news/isa_pharmaceuticals_announce_new_trial_testing_technology_for_cancers_1399340
Sorry if posted before.
Emerging Tools and Methods for Formulating Novel Biologic Drug Products.
'Scancell's Priscilla Ranglani will be presenting on March 23rd at The Cambridge Healthtech Institute's 3rd Annual Formulation and Stability at 17.25.
Priscilla Ranglani, PhD, Formulation Development Manager, Scancell, United Kingdom.
Novel biotherapeutics and vaccines for cancer treatment can require new approaches to formulation and selection of delivery methods and devices. This presentation reviews strategies being used by Scancell to address these challenges.'
Priscilla Ranglani is an experienced scientist with a demonstrated history of working in the biotechnical industry. Skilled in Differential Scanning Calorimetry, Antibodies, Flow Cytometry, FACS analysis, and in Vitro Toxicology. Strong research professional with a Dr of Philosophy (Ph.D) focused in Biotechnology from the University of Manchester.
Priscilla Ranglani joined Scancell in October 2021.
https://www.bioprocessingeurope.com/formulation#PriscillaRanglani