Member Info for JohnnyB1

No problem Roses, no need to apologise.

Something has occurred to me since I made my post yesterday under the heading “Covidity Trial”.

The first patient in the South Africa Covidity trial received their first dose of SCOV1 on 5 October 2021(Day 1) and if all goes to plan the earliest they could receive their first dose of SCOV2 is 26 January (Day 113). As we are aware Scancell’s interim results are also due out on this same day 26 January.

For information purposes the following link confirms the timeline of the participants’ Covidity vaccine:-

https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT05047445?term=covidity&draw=2&rank=1

Perhaps we will get a separate RNS (as well as the interim results RNS)on 26 January confirming first patient dosed with SCOV2.

I refer to Lindy’s Proactive video of 2 December 2021 (5 weeks ago today). I have copied the link below because it should be of interest to any new investors (as per BOJO2020 and Chester18s' comments):-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JdkjVylapfI

At the time 16 participants had had their first dose of SCOV1 (The first patient having been dosed 5 October) with some of these also having had their second dose. There was no issue with recruitment, this had moved up to about half a dozen patients per week.

If everything is going to schedule the remaining 24 (of the 40 participants) should hopefully have all had their first doses by now. Indeed the first 16 participants will all have had their second dose. Plus say another half a dozen participants should also have had their second dose; so a total of say 22 participants may have had 2 doses of SCOV1 (Based on 1st dose day 1 and second dose day 29 and Lindy’s indication of recruitment figures of about half a dozen per week).

The first patient dosed (with SCOV1 on 5 October 2021) should receive their first and second doses of SCOV2 on 26 January and 23 February 2022 (i.e. day 113 and day 141) respectively.

After demonstration of safety in Part 1 of the study in South Africa, Scancell will seek approval from the MHRA to initiate a UK extension of the study in which SCOV2 will be given to healthy volunteers who have already received two doses of an approved vaccine. What is not clear to me is when that “demonstration of safety” will be. Do we have to wait for all 40 participants to have had both doses of SCOV2 or will safety data from both doses of SCOV1 be sufficient to approach the MHRA?
Either way, I suspect and hope we will get an update on Covidity in the beginning of February.

Scancell have been named again amongst five companies that may grab headlines this year.

https://kalkinemedia.com/uk/news/stock-market/5-companies-that-may-grab-headlines-this-year

"Scancell Holding Plc is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company that is engaged in development of new classes of competitive therapeutics for the treatment of cancer and infectious disease. The company together with Nottingham’s two universities decided to modify its vaccine technology to develop covid vaccine during pandemic with £2 million funding from the UK’s innovation agency.
The company developed the vaccines to persuade T-cell immune responses in the body to identify and kill infected cells, to offer longer-lasting immunity through spring-powered injectors that use a narrow steam of fluid to pierce the skin. Scancell’s two largest shareholders are the Singaporean Vulpes Life Science Fund and the US health investor Redmile.
Scancell Holdings Plc’s shares were trading at GBX 21.50 on 4 January 2022 around 11 am, up by 7.50%, and its market cap is £ 163.04 million".

The more I read about Covid the more I feel that Lindy is well ahead of the pack with Covidity. (Targeting the N protein as well as the S protein and inducing a high avidity T cell response).

The following article is a case it point; it says there is mounting evidence that some people are naturally Covid-resistant.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-10360873/Mounting-evidence-suggests-people-naturally-Covid-resistant-virus-mutates.html

“When the UCL researchers examined the blood of seemingly Covid-proof healthcare workers that had been taken before the vaccine rollout, it confirmed they had no Covid antibodies – meaning it was unlikely they had ever been infected.
However, they discovered other immune system cells, called T cells, similar to those found in the immune systems of people who have recovered from Covid.
Like antibodies, T cells are created by the immune system to fend off invaders. But while antibodies stop viral cells from entering the body, T cells attack and destroy them.
It is now known that Covid antibodies can begin to wane in a matter of months both after infection and after vaccination.
However, T cells remain in the system for longer and will have snuffed out the virus before it had a chance to infect healthy cells or do any damage, experts suggested.”
“And this is where the UCL findings come in. It appears the most likely explanation for a Covid-proof immune system is that, after it has been repeatedly exposed to another coronavirus, it is then able to detect and defeat any mutated relatives because it is recognising proteins found inside the virus rather than on its surface.
These vary little between coronaviruses. 'Internal proteins don't mutate at anything like the same rate as external ones,' says Professor Andrew Easton, a virologist at Warwick University.”
“'These second-generation Covid vaccines will look at parts of the virus that are less prone to change than the spike protein,' says Professor Lawrence Young, also a virologist at Warwick University.
'The idea is they target parts of the virus that are shared by different members of the virus family, so they are not only active against Covid-19 but all coronaviruses, full stop.
'Proteins other than the spike protein are much less flexible and less likely to change – they will be much less of a moving target.'”

The map link may not have worked properly (you will need to copy and paste the whole link). I will try again:-

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Cape+Town+International+Airport/@-33.944513,18.4640371,17z/data=!4m12!1m6!3m5!1s0x0:0xe698c50f508318d4!2sInstitute+of+Infectious+Disease+%26+Molecular+Medicine!8m2!3d-33.943109!4d18.4659082!3m4!1s0x1dcc4542f7400bbd:0x40487579e3cf5e90!8m2!3d-33.971463!4d18.6020851?hl=en-GB

There follows an interesting article about T-cells (Lindy’s work on Covidity is definitely well ahead of the game here; hopefully it won’t be too long before we hear some good news).

“Cross-reactive T cell responses acquired through vaccination or infection may contribute to these apparent milder outcomes for omicron. The resilience of the T cell response demonstrated here also bodes well in the event that more highly mutated variants emerge in the future.”

https://uk.yahoo.com/news/human-t-cells-likely-prevent-195600853.html

The study is by researchers at the University of Cape Town’s institute of infectious disease and molecular medicine. Interestingly (as shown on the attached map) this is just up the road from where Covidity is being trialed at the University of Cape Town Lung Institute:-

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Cape+Town+International+Airport/@-33.944513,18.4640371,17z/data=!4m12!1m6!3m5!1s0x0:0xe698c50f508318d4!2sInstitute+of+Infectious+Disease+%26+Molecular+Medicine!8m2!3d-33.943109!4d18.4659082!3m4!1s0x1dcc4542f7400bbd:0x40487579e3cf5e90!8m2!3d-33.971463!4d18.6020851?hl=en-GB

Sorry the link did not work, probably because the"???.............." section of the link is in foreign characters. (I did a google search on "Scancell" and clicked on "news" and the article was on page 4 of the news articles).

There was an item posted 3 hours ago on a Thai website:-
https://www.thaifrx.com/????????????????????-??/
I used google to translate the bit about Scancell to see what it said. It was literally the same wording as the Guardian article except in Thai. I guess the more coverage we get the better.

Lindy was asked when she expected the first antibody deal to be finalised. She said that there were "modest" deals before they had Redmile's money but now they could go back and re-negotiate on a number of situations. She said hopefully it would be be soon but she could not give us a time. I like the word "re-negotiate"; Scancell are clearly still in discussions with other parties that have not walked away and clearly they already know the potential.

I have never heard of “Ibio, inc.” before. They closed up 29% today following this announcement:-
https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/11/29/2342203/0/en/Omicron-Variant-Underscores-Need-for-New-COVID-Vaccine-Candidates-Like-IBIO-202.html

“We are looking forward to productive interactions with regulators and other groups concerned with what may be an overreliance on S protein-directed vaccines.”

Their timeline is behind Scancell in that they have not started clinical trials yet (they put in an application to the US Food and Drug Administration and are expecting a response before the end of January). Maybe I am biased, but I think Covidity looks better on paper, targetting both the S and N proteins and inducing a high avidity T cell response.AIMHO

Hi Burble,
Thank you for clarifying that, I appreciate it. Yes, it will be interesting to eventually compare the results from Modi-1 with those of another company producing vaccines for the same types of cancer.

Scancell’s RNS 26 August’21 “Modi-1 Phase I/II clinical trial application approved by MHRA states”:-
Professor Christian Ottensmeier at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre and University of Liverpool, commented: "I am very excited to be the principal investigator for this first-in-human clinical trial to determine if siPTMs and, in particular, citrullination will be able to transform the prognosis for these patients with hard to treat tumours."

On 28 June 2021, Transgene (TNG) a French biotech company had their first UK patient enrolled in the Phase I clinical trial of TG4050. Transgene are conducting 2 parallel trials, one for head and neck cancer and the other for ovarian cancer. (Note, TG4050 is a personalised and individualised vaccine). Interestingly, Professor Christian Ottensmeier at The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre is also the principal investigator of this trial.

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210627005014/en/First-Head-Neck-Cancer-Patient-Enrolled-in-the-UK-in-a-Phase-I-Trial-with-TG4050-myvac®-Platform-Transgene’s-Innovative-Individualized-Immunotherapy

“The first data from the two ongoing Phase I clinical trials of the individualized cancer vaccine TG4050 (myvac® platform) will be communicated in the second half of November 2021. Transgene expects to communicate safety and immunogenicity (T-cell induction) data.”

https://www.transgene.fr/wp-content/uploads/20211104-Transgene-Q3-Financial-update-EN.pdf

TG4050 is a personalised and individualised vaccine. Am I right in understanding that Modi-1 (and indeed the rest of our pipeline) is not personalised and each patient receives the same vaccine; making Modi-1 (if successful) much more cost effective?

From a Scancell perspective it will be very interesting to see the data from these trials when it comes out later this month (and any effect on Transgene (TNG) share price).

For information purposes Transgene (TNG) presently has a Market capitalisation of circa 211 million Euros (Circa 180 million pounds sterling). Scancell’s market capitalisation is presently a bit lower at 163 million pounds sterling

There is an article in the The Telegraph about CEPI’s funding for MigVax and VIDO that was announced today. CEPI have tweeted it:-
https://twitter.com/CEPIvaccines/status/1456323458309165058?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
If we do get CEPI funding similar press coverage would not do us any harm.

Dracula, C7, Krafty and Konar, thank you for your positive comments. Konar, in answer to your question, sorry I really do not know when CEPI are likely to announce funding for second generation vaccines. The only information I had was the Italian tweet that I posted in full on this BB on 23 October and it is that that got me thinking that maybe Scancell had applied for CEPI funding.

Just to go off at a slight tangent. In my opinion, Scancell knew that some might view the annual results negatively. Suppose Scancell were hoping to soon be in a position to give positive news. Hence, it would make absolute sense to delay publishing these results as late as they could. Not delay for the sake of delay, that would be pointless, but to narrow the time window between the results and any good news.

Following the results Lindy came out quickly and gave a very good interview on Proactive. We have also entered a “wiggle” period of 2”wiggles” to date. I just hope that it is not too long before we get some very positive news. AIMHO

Point 6: Note on vaccine access: Interestingly this states “CEPI will not take ownership of patents arising from its funded projects. CEPI will not seek a share of any commercial return from the vaccine manufacture during the pandemic period, focusing instead on ensuring global allocation needs are met”.

It is my suspicion that Scancell will progress Covidity, with CEPI funding and possibly in partnership with a large Pharma.

On 23 October I posted a CEPI tweet (that led to an interesting discussion on this BB) of an Italian article stating:-
"We are about to announce a vaccine program that includes other parts of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, not just the spike protein but a broader antigenic repertoire. '
Why is this important? "All the vaccines we have at the moment use this spike protein but there are many mutations in that part of the virus, so we need to develop vaccines that are not susceptible to small changes in the spike protein or receptor binding domain: a different conceptual approach is needed in order to to anticipate rather than chase the virus ".

I have been looking at the following link on CEPI’s website (Forgive me, I do not know if this has been discussed previously) It is about the CEPI call for proposals that closed 31 May’21:-
https://cepi.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/CfP-BPCV-Call-Text-FINAL.pdf?swcfpc=1

The objectives for the Broad Protective SARS-Cov-2 vaccines (BPCov2) seem very much in line with Covidity and what Scancell are doing.
Focus of the call: “Immunogen design and selection, based on Spike protein, and other relevant immunogens where applicable to induce a broader protective immune response against variants”. “Design that considers existing VOC, emergent variants of interest and potentially future variants predicted computational or experimentally”.
The “review criterion” is under 7 headings; I have highlighted some of these below:-
Section 1 Immunogen & innovation “Extent to which the technology will rapidly solicit immune responses providing protection/clinical benefit, with the likelihood of improvement or differentiation from existing COVID-19 vaccine candidates in clinical development or granted EUL”. Covidity ticks this box.
Section 4 Speed of development “Plans for manufacturing scale- up and/or scale-out during clinical development and evidence of a suitable manufacturing partner”. This fits in with Cobra Biologics.
Section 5 Technical/manufacturing Scalability “FTE resources able to support any scale-up / scale-out plans, tech transfers, and experience doing so”. This fits in with the new office and laboratory space and associated job adverts.
Section 6 Equitable access “Possibility of formulations and presentations with suitable storage conditions and stability for LMICs” (Low and middle income countries). Again fits in with Covidity.
Section 7 Partnership. “Willingness to collaborate with other partners to enable global scale out and affordable manufacturing”. I always understood that Scancell needed a large Pharma to do the heavy lifting (Though, Lindy did not answer this part of a question put to her in the recent proactive video).
CONTINUED on next post.

The market still appears to be unaware that Redmile Group LLC purchased 4,459,681 Shares from Lindy at 20.38p pence per share on 9 September. This 100k buy is slightly below 2.25% of that magnitude.

Hi Bermuda,
I very rarely look at the other site but have just seen that you put my post from Friday on there. That is good of you, thank you for that.

Thank you AB124, Crumbs and others for your contributions to my posting on Friday and C7 for putting my name in the header of this discussion. I thought I had better respond, if only to quash any rumours that I may have drowned in the sewers under Coronation Street.

To recap, the RNS 9 September stated:- “An existing institutional investor has agreed to purchase 4,459,681 of the Shares at 20.38p pence per share and a private individual has agreed to purchase 2,380,952 shares at 21 pence per share”.

We have established Redmile was the institutional investor that purchased 4,459,681 shares. (I do not know who the private individual is who purchased 2,380,952 shares).

Purchases by “("Vulpes"), a person closely associated with Martin Diggle”
in April, June and July (of 400k, 400k and 200k shares respectively) resulted in small (if not sustainable) rises in the share price. These were AIMHO to show support for the share price when it dropped to circa 19/20p.

The Redmile purchase was of a much higher magnitude and to quote Crumbs “pity that was not revealed on the day though as the market loves that....”.

That got me thinking as to why did Scancell make the deliberate decision not to name Redmile in the RNS. The only conclusion I can reach is that they did not want a significant rise in the share price AIMHO. In February (before I became a shareholder) when the share price was rising significantly “("Vulpes"), a person closely associated with Martin Diggle” sold 2 blocks of 400k and a block of 1,250,000 shares. I had always just assumed that this was profit taking; maybe this too could have been to halt the rising share price?

Maybe it is simply supply and demand but the share price certainly appears to have been “shepherded” within a narrow range within recent months. I can understand Scancell/Vulpes/Redmile wanting support for the share price at lower levels. However, I do not know why they would not want the share price to go up significantly at this point in time. Can anyone think of any reason for this? Maybe I am misinterpreting things and reading too much into this? AIMHO