Appoints Heads of Research and Manufacturing

RNS Number : 5514N

Scancell Holdings Plc

21 January 2019

 

21 January 2019

Scancell Holdings Plc

("Scancell" or the "Company")

Scancell appoints Head of Research and Head of Manufacturing

Samantha Paston, PhD appointed Head of Research; Adrian Parry, PhD appointed Head of Manufacturing

Appointments add significant expertise to further advance Scancell's pipeline of cancer immunotherapies

Scancell Holdings plc, the developer of novel immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer, today announces the appointment of Dr Samantha Paston as Head of Research and Dr Adrian Parry as Head of Manufacturing. Dr Paston started in her role in mid-January and Dr Parry will start in his role on 01 February 2019.

Dr Samantha Paston joins Scancell from Immunocore where she has held several positions since June 2008 including Head of T Cell Cloning and Group Leader. While at Immunocore Samantha was responsible for the generation of the in house T cell cloning method and biological molecule discovery which made significant contributions to the current Immunocore oncology pipeline. Prior to this, Samantha held a number of positions at Medigene, Avidex, NIBSC and GSK. Samantha holds a PhD from University College London in Immunology/Haematology, following an BSc Honours Degree in Microbiology from the University of Sheffield. Based at the Company's corporate offices in Oxford, Samantha will report directly to Scancell's founder and Chief Scientific Officer, Professor Lindy Durrant who commented: "Samantha will be invaluable in immunological design of the upcoming trials and spearheading the new TCR therapeutics and I am very excited to add such an experienced scientist to the team."

Dr Adrian Parry joins Scancell from Mereo BioPharma where he was Head of Small Molecule CMC (Chemistry, Manufacturing and Controls), managing outsourced GMP manufacturing activities to support their clinical trials. Prior to this, Adrian was New Product Development Director at Juniper Pharmaceuticals where he managed and coordinated preclinical and CMC development activities. Adrian has previously held further CMC positions at Circassia, Shire Pharmaceuticals, Prosidion, Evotec and OSI Pharmaceuticals, totalling 20 years of development expertise including the delivery of multiple, complex GMP drug products with associated regulatory submissions in Europe and the US. Adrian holds a PhD in Physical Organic/Analytical Chemistry from The Open University, following a MSc in Advanced Analytical Chemistry from the University of Bristol. Adrian will also be based in the Oxford offices and will report to Dr Sally Adams, Scancell's Development Director.

Cliff Holloway, CEO of Scancell, commented:

"We are delighted to welcome both Samantha and Adrian to Scancell. Samantha's experience in T cell cloning and working with biological molecules, from drug discovery through to early development, will be invaluable as we continue to progress our pipeline of cancer immunotherapies. Likewise, Adrian's 20 years of CMC and GMP development expertise will be key for our manufacturing capabilities moving forward.

These two appointments are significant for Scancell as we expand our R&D and manufacturing capabilities in order to further advance our ImmunoBody® and Moditope® pipeline products through clinical development."

For Further Information:

Scancell Holdings Plc
Dr John Chiplin, Chairman		[phone]
Dr Cliff Holloway, CEO
Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited (Nominated Adviser and Corporate broker)
Freddy Crossley/Emma Earl		[phone]
FTI Consulting Simon Conway/Natalie Garland-Collins		[phone]

About Scancell

Scancell is developing novel immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer based on its ImmunoBody® and Moditope® technology platforms.

ImmunoBody® vaccines target dendritic cells and stimulate both parts of the cellular immune system. They can be used as monotherapy or in combination with checkpoint inhibitors. This platform has the potential to enhance tumour destruction, prevent disease recurrence and extend survival. 

·      SCIB1, the lead programme, is being developed for the treatment of melanoma. A phase 1/2 clinical trial has so far successfully demonstrated survival data of more than five years.

·      SCIB2 is being developed for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer and other solid tumours. Scancell has entered into a clinical development partnership with Cancer Research UK for SCIB2. 

Moditope® represents a completely new class of potent and selective immunotherapy agents. It stimulates the production of killer CD4+ T cells which overcome the immune suppression induced by tumours. allowing activated T cells to seek out and kill tumour cells that would otherwise be hidden from the immune system. Moditope® alone, or in combination with other agents, has the potential to treat a wide variety of cancers.

·      Modi-1 is being developed for the treatment of triple negative breast cancer, ovarian cancer and sarcomas.

For further details, please see our website:  www.scancell.co.uk

 

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