Appointment of Non-Executive Director

RNS Number : 8610B

Scancell Holdings Plc

09 April 2013

 



9 April 2013

Scancell Holdings Plc

('Scancell')

Appoints Peter Allen as Non-Executive Director

Scancell Holdings Plc, (AIM:SCLP), the developer of therapeutic cancer vaccines, today announces that Peter Allen, ACA, has been appointed to the Board as Non-Executive Director, with immediate effect.

Peter has had a distinguished career in the life sciences industry. A chartered accountant by profession, he has held key senior positions in a number of companies, playing a significant role in their development. His experience extends to overseeing and orchestrating fundraisings, restructurings, acquisitions and IPOs.  Peter has also had extensive M&A experience including the acquisitions of Chiroscience, Medeva and Oxford Glycosciences during his 12 year tenure at Celltech as CFO and Deputy CEO, which concluded in its £1.5 billion sale to UCB in 2004.  More recently, as Chairman at Proximagen, Peter played a fundamental role in its acquisition by Upsher-Smith Laboratories for £357 million in 2012 and whilst Chairman and interim CEO of Prostrakan, he oversaw the sale of the Company to Kyowa Hakko Kirin for £292 million in 2011.

Peter is currently Chairman of Clinigen PLC, Chroma Therapeutics Limited, ProStrakan plc and Future plc and a non-executive Director of Oxford Nanopore Technologies Limited.

Save as disclosed below there are no additional disclosures to be made in accordance with paragraph (g) of Schedule 2 of the AIM Rules in relation to Peter Allen.

David Evans, Chairman of Scancell, commented:  "We are delighted to welcome Peter to our Board as a Non-Executive Director.  The Company is entering an important juncture in its development as we await results from Part 2 of our Phase I/II trial on SCIB1, our innovative therapeutic vaccine for metastatic melanoma, anticipated around the end of this year.  Peter's strategic oversight and broad experience of nurturing innovative life science companies will be invaluable to Scancell."

The Companies of which Peter Allen is or has been a director of in the last five years are as follows:

Chroma Therapeutics Limited

Prostrakan Group plc

St. Mary's School, (Calne)

St Mary's School (Calne) Limited

Macrotarg Limited

Future plc

Clinigen Group plc

The Calne Foundation Trust

Abacus Group Limited*

Alpha 3 Manufacturing Limited*

Deltron Electronics Limited*

ECC Distribution Limited*

Avnet Logistics Limited*

Sanofi Pasteur Holding Limited*

Proximagen Group Limited*

Micromark Electronics Limited*

Trident Microsystems Limited*

Dem Manufacturing Limited*

Deltron Hawnt Limited*

Deltron Holdings Limited*

Deltron UK Limited*

Quiller Electronics Limited*

Quiller Holdings Limited*

Roxburgh Foxhills Limited*

Lie Low Limited*

TMO Renewables Limited*

* Past directorships

-ENDS-

For Further Information:

Dr Richard Goodfellow, Joint CEO Professor Lindy Durrant, Joint CEO	Scancell Holdings Plc Scancell Holdings Plc	+ 44 (0) 74 2323 0497  + 44 (0) 74 2323 0497
Simon Conway/Mo Noonan	FTI Consulting	+ 44 (0) 20 7831 3113
Camilla Hume/Stephen Keys	Cenkos Securities plc	+ 44 (0) 20 7397 8900

About Scancell

Scancell is developing therapeutic vaccines for the treatment of cancer based on its ImmunoBody® and Moditope™ technology platforms. Scancell's first cancer vaccine SCIB1 is being developed for the treatment of melanoma and is in Phase 1/2 clinical trials. Preliminary evidence from Part 1 of the study showing that SCIB1 produced an immune response which might be associated with clinical benefit in patients with metastatic t melanoma was released in December 2012.

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.

Scancell has also identified and patented a series of modified epitopes that stimulate the production of killer CD4 that destroy tumours without toxicity. The Directors believe that the Moditope™ platform could have a profound effect on the way that cancer vaccines are developed.

 

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