Scancell progresses its new anti-glycan mAb

RNS Number : 0615F

Scancell Holdings Plc

17 March 2022

 

17 March 2022

Scancell Holdings plc

("Scancell" or the "Company")

Scancell progresses its new anti-glycan monoclonal antibody (mAb) platform GlyMab™

Initial anti-glycan mAbs from the GlyMab™ platform have now been successfully humanised

Fourth research agreement on Glymab™ platform signed with major European Pharma

Scancell Holdings plc (AIM: SCLP), the developer of novel immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer and infectious disease, provides an update on its anti-glycan monoclonal antibody (mAb) platform, now branded GlyMab™. The Company's fourth proprietary platform has the potential to expand further its pipeline of novel anti-cancer mAbs and the versatility to yield other drug formats including antibody drug conjugate and CAR-T candidates. Scancell is developing a unique pipeline of tumour-specific anti-glycan antibodies with the initial aim of generating early-stage clinical data, either alone or in combination with potential strategic partners.

The Company currently has a pipeline of five anti-glycan mAbs: SC129, SC134, SC88 and SC27 that target solid tumours including pancreatic, small cell lung, colorectal and gastric, and SC2811 that targets a glycolipid on T cell stem cells. Four (SC129, SC27, SC134 and SC88) out of five of these drug candidates have now been successfully humanised and are therefore ready for the next stage of development.

In addition, the company is pleased to announce its fourth research collaboration agreement based on the Glymab™ platform. The agreement is with a major European pharmaceutical company and is designed to further evaluate one of the company's Glymab™ antibodies for the treatment of cancer.

Scancell believes that GlyMab™ can be employed to produce additional differentiated anti-cancer mAbs that target sugar motifs (glycans) present on putative lipid and / or protein drug targets. The platform also has the potential to be used for drug delivery as antibody drug conjugates (ADCs), as chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells or for redirected T cell killing. Furthermore, such high affinity anti-glycan mAbs also have the potential to be used for targeted imaging to distinguish malignant from healthy tissue during cancer surgery.^1,2

A robust portfolio of patents and applications, as well as know-how, surround the GlyMab™ platform and generated drug candidates. The GlyMab™ technology is part of Scancell's antibody portfolio, joining AvidiMab^® , a technology that can be applied to all antibodies (regardless of the technology used to generate them), enhancing their potency and ability to directly kill tumour cells.

Prof Lindy Durrant, Chief Executive Officer, Scancell, commented:

"We believe our proprietary GlyMab™ platform provides a powerful and versatile approach to generating novel antibody drug candidates that bind to sugar motifs, rather than peptide epitopes, found on the surface of glycosylated proteins and lipids that are implicated as drug targets in particular cancers and potentially other diseases. As such, this new platform expands on Scancell's unique approach to developing innovative therapies for cancer and infectious disease. The Board believes that there are multiple ways to maximise the value of these innovative and proprietary assets, either developing them internally to further value inflection points, develop alongside strategic partners or through earlier stage commercial licences. The fourth research agreement on the Glymab™ platform provides further validation of the commercial potential of this platform."

1.  Houvast RD, Vankemmelbeke M, Durrant LG, Wuhrer M, Baart VM, Kuppen PJK, de Geus-Oei LF, Vahrmeijer AL, Sier CFM. Targeting glycans and heavily glycosylated proteins for tumor imaging. Cancers (Basel). 2020 Dec 21;12(12):3870. doi: 10.3390/cancers12123870. PMID: 33371487; PMCID: PMC7767531.

2.  Houvast RD, Thijse K, Groen JV, Chua J, Vankemmelbeke M, Durrant LG, Mieog JSD, Bonsing BA, Vahrmeijer AL, Kuppen PJK, Crobach ASLP, Sier CFM. An immunohistochemical evaluation of tumor-associated glycans and mucins as targets for molecular imaging of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Cancers (Basel). 2021 Nov 18;13(22):5777. doi: 10.3390/cancers13225777. PMID: 34830932; PMCID: PMC8616289.

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) 596/2014 (MAR).

For further information, please contact:
Scancell Holdings plc	[phone]
Dr John Chiplin, Executive Chairman
Professor Lindy Durrant, CEO
Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited (Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker)	[phone]
Freddy Crossley / Emma Earl (Corporate Finance)
Rupert Dearden (Corporate Broking)
Stifel Nicolaus Europe Limited (Joint Broker)	[phone]
Nicholas Moore / Samira Essebiyea / William Palmer-Brown (Healthcare Investment Banking)
Nick Adams / Nick Harland (Corporate Broking)
FTI Consulting	[phone]
Simon Conway / Rob Winder / Alex Davis

About Scancell

Scancell is a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company that is leveraging its proprietary research, built up over many years of studying the human adaptive immune system, to generate novel medicines to treat significant unmet needs in cancer and infectious disease. The Company is building a pipeline of innovative products by utilising its four technology platforms: Moditope ^® and ImmunoBody ^® for vaccines and GlyMab™ and AvidiMab ^® for antibodies.

Adaptive immune responses include antibodies and T cells (CD4 and CD8), both of which can recognise damaged or infected cells. In order to destroy such cancerous or infected cells, Scancell uses either vaccines to induce immune responses or monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to redirect immune cells or drugs. The Company's unique approach is that its innovative products target modifications of proteins and lipids. For the vaccines (Moditope ^® and ImmunoBody ^® ) this includes citrullination and homocitrullination of proteins, whereas its mAb portfolio targets glycans or sugars that are added onto proteins and / or lipids (GlyMab™) or enhances the potency of antibodies and their ability to directly kill tumour cells (AvidiMab ^® ).

For further information about Scancell, please visit: https://www.scancell.co.uk/

 

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