Member Info for RayPointer

Hi Bermuda
Do you have a link for that?
Thanks

IMO, what should also be happening is an impartial scientific assessment of the various vaccines being developed.
Then government funding should be based on these assessments.
I don't know if this is happening.

The chances of the Oxford vaccine being effective were put at 80% by one of the scientists on the project.
The Imperial vaccine has also received funding.

So, perhaps the government feel that they only need to back 2 horses both from the golden triangle at this point; an odds on favourite and an outsider.
What happens if they both fall?

As Bermuda says it is about getting vaccines to the poorest nations.
I doubt whether specific vaccines will be debated.

Sorry
"when so" should have been "when someone mentioned Scancell were taking part"

Morning Chester

Yes, that puzzled me when so
I don't think any vaccine developers are taking part.
It looks more like a political call to arms to me.

https://www.gavi.org/sites/default/files/2020-05/GVS-Event-Programme.pdf

https://www.gavi.org/investing-gavi/resource-mobilisation-process/gavis-3rd-donor-pledging-conference-june-2020

You would have thought they could spare a few million for Lindy.
It's being co-hosted by our Boris assuming he turns up to the meeting.

I think, in the case of Scancell, they have to prove that cancer vaccines are worth pursuing.
Big pharma became very sceptical about cancer vaccines after a few well publicised failures. As a result they concentrated their efforts elsewhere thinking that cancer vaccines were impossible to make effective.
The 3 trials that Scancell are planning (one already underway but has not yet recruited the first patient) give them 3 chances to prove that the SCIB1 results were not a fluke.
Also remember that Scancell have 4 collaborations underway with 4 different pharmas, so there is definite interest in their products.

Hi Drac

"Where does their Profit come from??"

It comes from research work that big pharma commission Biontech to carry out.
e.g. Biontech has teamed up with Genentech to run a trial on individualised mnra cancer vaccines using Biontech technology.

I agree Konar

There's so much going on that it would be a good idea to have a regular update on all projects

You could add Modi1 manufacture to your list and perhaps also Covidity.

*****warning dark humour *****

perhaps more people are waking up after being pronounced dead

Sky News asked Luo Baishan, a researcher at Sinovac, whether he thought the vaccine would be successful.
"Yes, yes. It must be successful… 99% [sure]," he replied.

Later on in the article:
Asked whether she was sure of success, Ms Yang told Sky News: "It's very hard to say, very difficult to say at the moment. There are uncertainties, but the data: so far, so good."

So, conflicting statements from 2 of the researchers.

It was successful on monkeys whereas the Oxford vaccine wasn't.
I just wonder, with so few new cases in China, how can they tell whether the Phase 2 trial is successful.
This also probably explains why they are looking outside China for the Phase 3 trial.

Pfizer?
Shouldn't that be Astrazeneca?

Ask Dominic the PM

Sorry

CW should be CH

Hi Chester

We just don't know how quickly Lindy and her team will be able to produce an effective vaccine.
Lindy did say in her radio Nottingham interview that it is not easy.

We have some clues as to timescales
1) Originally it was stated that the target was Q1 2021 CW
2) Then it became Autumn if funding was forthcoming LD
3) Lindy then went on to say with a bit more funding and it could be ready by August, as I recall

But these are only piecing together bits of what has been said by Lindy or CH.
We know nothing definite on how well the research and testing is going and how many research staff are involved.

Lindy is starting with a defined platform and we do know the following:

"Identical plasmid backbone structure to ImmunoBody® SCIB1 already shown to be safe in humans"

https://www.scancell.co.uk/covidity

Different targets, of course.

Remember this company, despite having a huge MCAP, has no approved products

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moderna

"The company has a reputation for secrecy and little of its work has ever been published, and none peer-reviewed or scientifically validated,[6][7] an approach that was compared to Theranos by Nature.[12][5] In May 2020, Moderna was valued at $30 billion but none of its mRNA molecules had reached large clinical trials, and several had failed due to side-effects.[5]"

https://achillestx.com/science/

It's an interesting science.

1) TILs are removed from a patient's tumour
2) Dendritic cells are removed from the patient's blood
3) The targets are identified on a patient by patient basis
4) The peptides are created for the patient's targets
5) The peptides are added to the dendritic cells
6) The peptides are presented to the TILs to perform activation
7) The activated TILs are expanded in number
8) The activated TILs are re-infused into the patient

I can't find any mention of avidity on the website.
Also, are the actions of the TILs suppressed by TRegs meaning that the addition of a CI may be helpful?

Fact check that last post LOL

I think its just a case of Scancell developing products that were not "in vogue".
Effective cancer vaccines were not thought to be possible after a number of failures. So pharma sought new solutions that were not vaccines. This is despite the results of the SCIB1 trial.
Scancell were left with no alternative but to try to prove them wrong. As you say, they may have received offers that did not reflect the standard of the science.
I am glad now they have a chance to revisit the Immunobody platform and apply it to an area where vaccines are "in vogue".

This was Nottingham Uni who received the funds but it was work led by Lindy.
Nottingham Uni subsequently agreed that Scancell should take over the glycans mabs

https://www.lse.co.uk/rns/SCLP/scancell-hlds-technology-acquired-from-university-of-nottingham-lbe9e38v11qcrzq.html

These are the mabs that are the subject of 3 collaborations.