Reminder21 Jan 2019 07:46
Of how we got into TCR just a year ago... now we are emplying staff to work on it... me-not seeing anything negative in it at ALL! :)
Scancell Holdings plc, ('Scancell' or the 'Company') the developer of novel immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer, is pleased to announce that it has entered into a research collaboration with BioNTech for the potential development of innovative, T cell receptor based therapeutics for the treatment of cancer. This research collaboration combines Scancell's Moditope® immunotherapy platform and BioNTech's platform technology for high-throughput cloning and characterisation of naturally selected T cell receptors.
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Moditope® represents a completely new class of potent and selective immunotherapy agents which could have a profound effect on the way that cancer immunotherapies are developed. It acts by stimulating the production of CD4+ T cells using citrullinated tumour-associated peptide epitopes which overcome self-tolerance and destroy tumour cells. The technology overcomes the immune suppression induced by tumours themselves without the need for checkpoint blockade inhibitors, thereby allowing activated T cells to seek out and kill tumour cells that would otherwise be hidden from the immune system.
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Under the terms of the agreement, Scancell and BioNTech will enter into an initial research collaboration to discover and characterise T cell receptors specific for citrullinated epitopes from vimentin and enolase. These epitopes form the basis of Scancell's first Moditope® development candidate, Modi-1. Upon completion of these studies, BioNTech will have the exclusive option to enter into a licence agreement for the development of cell receptor based therapeutics that are specific to Modi-1 epitopes.
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Prof Lindy Durrant, Chief Scientific Officer of Scancell, commented: "We are delighted to be working with BioNTech, one of Europe's new immuno-oncology power-houses, to investigate the development of targeted immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer. Pre-clinical data from our Moditope® platform has shown unprecedented anti-tumour effects can be delivered without the need for checkpoint inhibition. We believe that this, combined with BioNTech's engineered T cells specific to Moditope® epitopes, could have great potential as a novel immunotherapy."
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