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Well spotted Burble. 'Could' expresses possibility, while 'would' expresses certainty and intent.
In other words, what they are saying is IF we get Phase 2 data from an adapted registration trial, the pathway to a potential deal is there. A clearer signal than we may have first thought - but a proviso nonetheless.
Firstly GF 6.31 - you are spot on and post highly recommended.
As a PS to that, maybe Cossery is only too aware of the difficulty that smaller Biotechs with disruptive technologies (such as Moditope) face when trying to enter into, and compete in, a market with established, deep-pocketed CPI investment. There will be resistance from HCPs who may be averse to switching their current treatment protocol to a new monotherapy. There will also be pushback from established pharma who want to protect their CPIs' market share rather than see it diminish. Sure, Divide and Conquer is a strategy, but it's a much longer term play and big pharma won't want to cede any of their market easily or readily.
So the alternative is to engage with pharma and position Moditope not as a threat but, when used as a combination therapy with CPIs, something that will improve outcomes, maintain/increase market share, and extend patent life. Frankly, as a pharma, why wouldn't you?
There is also a third way of course, which I think we all thought was the direction of travel before Cossery (and Monday's RNS) - that of trying to do both: position both as a monotherapy (and therefore directly compete with big pharma) while at the same time trying to get into bed with pharma as a combination therapy. However, trying to run with the hare and the hounds at the same time is never a good idea IMHO. Maybe Cossery thinks likewise.
Lastly, Lindy talks about the 'sweet spot' she is aiming for with the Modi/CPI combo approach. She may be referring to a therapeutic sweet spot here but maybe she's referring to a commercial sweet spot too: one where Scancell can satisfy pharma's desperate need for an extended patent runway both quickly and lucratively.
In other words, Unite and Build.
AIMHO. GLA etc...
The interview answers my 7.38 question yesterday - thank you Lindy - in that the 6 month evaluation is a NEW collaboration with an entirely new company.
The fact that they are also looking at a further collaboration with a second new company was not mentioned in the RNS and is a real bonus.
Lots of interest and evaluation going on it seems - and key stages for further deals. AIMHO.
Dr David Pinato, Principal Investigator at Imperial College, commented: "Advanced ovarian cancer is an aggressive cancer which is hard to treat. A disease control rate of 44% with Modi-1 in patients who have exhausted most treatment options is very encouraging".
I think I'd rather have Pinato's take on this than Dark Prince's!!
Hi Burble. What is your interpretation of "the antibodies continue to yield compelling results which have led to a new 6-month evaluation by a leading Biotech company." Is that a) an extension of an existing evaluation ( e.g Genmab, BioNtech) or b) an entirely new biotech company? Good either way, methinks...
Https://twitter.com/scancellpharma/status/1664602722203496448?t=tVmGN0HB_QXJUIq1_GsdRA&s=19
Clients include Immunocore, Oxford Biomedica and Clinigen...
https://consilium-comms.com/our-expertise/case-studies/
Consilium look a quality team...
Mary-Jane Elliott founded Consilium in 2013 and brings more than 25 years of financial PR and pharma industry experience to the firm.
Before launching Consilium she set up and led the international healthcare practice at M:Communications having previously been a Partner at WPP's Buchanan Communications. She started her career at PowderJect Pharmaceuticals plc, a FTSE250 vaccines and drug delivery firm in Oxford, UK, initially as a scientist before moving into communications and investor relations.
She is an expert in financial, corporate and scientific communications and media management having advised on a range of high-profile friendly and hostile M&A deals, IPOs, financings, industry transactions, clinical data findings and client crises. Mary-Jane has a BSc (Hons) in BioMedical Sciences.
It's worth noting that Scancell have appointed a new PR agency. FTI Consulting are out, Consilium are in. https://consilium-comms.com/our-expertise/overview (May explain why I didn't get an email from FTI about the RNS)
Https://www.clatterbridgecc.nhs.uk/news/retired-nurse-given-hope-being-part-clinical-research-trial
Story picked up by Microsoft News!
https://www.msn.com/en-nz/health/other/mum-got-news-she-never-expected-after-suddenly-losing-her-hearing/ar-AA1aQxdJ
4 mice days = 160 human days = 23 weeks.
HLA-DP4 mice with a large tumor burden were subsequently vaccinated with Modi-1 or adjuvant only and tumor infiltrates were analyzed. To account for variation in tumor growth between mice, they were vaccinated when tumor diameters reached 8 to 12 mm and tumor
infiltrates analyzed after 4 days. Despite Modi-1 vaccinated mice showing slightly larger tumors at vaccination point compared with the control group (p=0.0030), comparison of tumor volume pre-immunization and at day 4 post-immunization show regression in the Modi-1-immunized mice (figure 2Ai). Tumors from Modi-
1-immunized mice showed evidence of rapid tumor progression within 4 days of a single immunization which was not seen in control mice receiving adjuvant only (figure 2Aii). Seven out of 10 Modi-1-immunized mice showed evidence of tumor shrinkage, measured as tumor volume change, with the remaining 3/10 showing stable disease whereas mice treated with the
adjuvant alone showed 7/9 mice with tumor progression and 2/9 with stable disease (figure 2Aiii).
1. Victoria A Brentville, Rachael L Metheringham, Ian Daniels, Suha Atabani, Peter Symonds, Katherine W Cook, Mireille Vankemmelbeke, Ruhul Choudhury, Poonam Vaghela, Mohamed Gijon, Ghislaine Meiners, Willem-Jan Krebber, Cornelis J M Melief, Lindy G Durrant. Combination vaccine based on citrullinated vimentin and enolase peptides induces potent CD4-mediated anti-tumor responses. Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer 2020;8:e000560. doi:10.1136/jitc-2020-000560.
So as expected, today's AACR poster is presenting the encouraging data from the 8 week imaging evaluation that was RNS'd on Tuesday 21st Feb. Nothing new in the message then, but presenting it to a wider, world-class audience - I'll take that! My question is, when is the next evaluation of these patients due? If it's 16 weeks, then 21st Feb + 8 weeks = Tuesday 18th April. Allowing for a few days leeway because of Easter, does that mean that 16 week results are expected imminently?
Great Find, Bazooka! Here's the write-up:
Been around since 1996, Scancell is a U.K.-based biotech company that is focused on oncological treatments with its antibody-based platforms and cancer vaccine platform Moditope. In addition, the company has also developed the vaccine technology ImmunoBody for the prevention of COVID 19.
The Moditope platform – characterized by the induction of CD4 cytotoxic T cells – has two vaccines in its lineup. The first, Modi-1 is composed of two target antigens, one being the cytoskeletal protein, vimentin and the other being metalloenzyme alpha-enolase, which is involved in the process of glycolysis – the pathway that breaks down glucose. The vaccine aims to treat melanoma, ovarian, lung, pancreatic and breast cancer.
The second vaccine, Modi-2, stimulates the production of CD4 T cells tumor-associated peptide epitopes in which the lysine residues are converted to ****citrulline, and will address various cancer indications including tumors.
To further enhance its pipeline, the company has raised £82 million to date ($102.24 million) with the last two funding rounds in 2020 raising £46 million ($57.35 million), and its most recent investors being Redmile and Vulpes.