Scancell Holdings Regulatory News (SCLP)

17 Nov 2011 11:29

17 November 2011 Scancell Holdings Plc (`Scancell Holdings' or the `Company') Holdings in Company

The Company announces that it has received notification that Helium Special Situations Fund Limited has increased its beneficial interest in Scancell Holdings to 17,586,940 ordinary shares of 0.1 pence each which represents approximately 9.06 per cent of the issued capital of the Company.

For further information contact:

Scancell Holdings Plc + 44 (0)207 245 1100 Professor Lindy Durrant/Dr Richard Goodfellow Hansard Communications- Financial PR + 44 (0)207 245 1100 Adam Reynolds/Guy McDougall Zeus Capital - Nominated Adviser + 44 (0)161 831 1512 Ross Andrews/Tom Rowley XCAP Securities Plc - Broker +44 (0) 207 101 7070 Jon Belliss/ Adrian Kirk About Scancell

Scancell is developing novel therapeutic vaccines for the treatment of cancer and infectious diseases based on its groundbreaking ImmunoBody® technology platform. Scancell's first cancer vaccine SCIB1, which entered clinical trials in 2010, is being developed for the treatment of melanoma.

Treating cancer by vaccination allows small non-toxic doses of a vaccine to be administered to a patient, stimulating an immune response. Effective cancer vaccines need to target dendritic cells to stimulate both parts of the cellular immune system; the helper cell system where inflammation is stimulated at the tumour site; and the cytotoxic T-lymphocyte or CTL response where immune system cells are primed to recognise and kill specific cells.

A limitation of many cancer vaccines currently in development is that they cannot specifically target dendritic cells in vivo. Several groups have demonstrated successful vaccination by growing dendritic cells ex vivo, pulsing them with tumour antigens and re-infusing them. However, this procedure is patient specific, time consuming and expensive. Scancell has developed its breakthrough patent protected ImmunoBody® technology to overcome these limitations.

An ImmunoBody® is a human antibody or fusion protein engineered to express helper cell and CTL epitopes from tumour antigens over-expressed by cancer cells. Antibodies are ideal vectors for carrying T cell epitopes from tumour antigens as they have long half-lives and can effectively target dendritic cells via their Fc receptors, allowing efficient stimulation of both helper and CTL responses.

The Immunobody® technology can be adapted to provide the basis for treating any tumour type and may also be of potential utility in the development of vaccines against hepatitis, HIV and other chronic infectious diseases.