Guardian article1 Jan 2022 17:57
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/jan/01/from-flying-taxis-to-painless-vaccines-seven-businesses-to-watch-this-year
Scancell
This spinout from the University of Nottingham, founded in 1997 by Lindy Durrant, professor of cancer immunotherapy at the university, specialises in developing cancer vaccines and has started testing them on humans. But when the pandemic struck, the company decided to modify its vaccine technology to develop Covid shots, in collaboration with Nottingham’s two universities and backed by £2m funding from the UK’s innovation agency.
The vaccines aim to induce high T-cell immune responses in the body to identify and kill infected cells, as well as generating virus-neutralising antibodies. Scientists say a strong T-cell response would offer longer-lasting immunity, because the protection from antibodies wanes more quickly, as the current Covid jabs show.
As many people are afraid of needles, Scancell decided its vaccines would be administered via spring-powered injectors that use a narrow stream of fluid to pierce the skin. The first trials with 40 healthy volunteers started in South Africa in October, and a further trial is planned in the UK, and data from the studies is expected by June.
The company’s two main shareholders are the US health investor Redmile and the Singaporean Vulpes Life Science Fund, while Durrant and other management own 1.8% of the company. Its shares have rocketed in the past two years, from nearly 7p in early January 2020 to over 20p, but remain far below their closing high of nearly 57p, reached in October 2012.