The Addario Lung Cancer Medical Institute (ALCMI), the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation (ALCF) and Scancell Holdings PLC (Scancell) announced a collaboration to evaluate the use of Scancell’s second innovative cancer vaccine, SCIB2, from its ImmunoBody platform to treat non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This collaboration will build a world-class network to develop innovative treatment alternatives for lung cancer patients.

Scancell’s ImmunoBody cancer vaccine platform is a novel immunotherapy treatment under development that stimulates the immune system to potentially treat and prevent cancer. The Company recently successfully completed a phase 1/2 clinical trial with SCIB1 in patients with melanoma.

The Addario Advanced Collaboration Program brings patients into clinical trials from ALCMI’s extensive research consortium of international researchers and member institutions and ALCF’s patient support programs. ALCMI plans to assist Scancell in the design and development of a phase 1/2 clinical trial with SCIB2 in patients with NSCLC which is planned to begin in 2018 and complete approximately 18 months later.

“This partnership enables us to access an important clinical program that could also accelerate the development of this groundbreaking immunotherapy technology,” said ALCMI President and COO Steven Young. “Combining our two foundations’ unique resources will increase patient engagement with the goal to bring new treatment options to non-small cell lung cancer patients,” added Bonnie J. Addario, a 12-year lung cancer survivor and founder and chair of ALCF and founder of ALCMI.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, lung cancer accounts for 27 percent of all cancer deaths, more than breast, prostate and colon cancer combined. More than 228,000 people receive a cancer diagnosis in the United States alone and more than 160,000 will not survive. It remains one of the most difficult cancers to treat.

“Immunotherapy has dramatically improved many patients' outcomes across various cancer types. One of the next steps is how we can further enhance the immune response to cancer. Early clinical data on ImmunoBody suggests it is extremely well tolerated and may significantly improve outcomes, which would be ideal. I'm excited to work with Scancell and hopeful that we will take another important step in the fight against lung cancer,” said Jacob M. Sands, MD, assistant professor, medical oncology, Lahey Hospital & Medical Center in Burlington, Massachusetts.  

SCIB2 has the potential to complement existing treatments and has potential value where current treatments either do not work or are not available. By stimulating immune responses to specific lung cancer antigens, SCIB2 should assist the body in targeting and fighting NSCLC, leading to longer survival rates.

“We have generated preclinical data that suggests that SCIB2 could be the ideal complement to existing and emerging checkpoint inhibitor therapies to treat NSCLC and so provide an effective new potential treatment option for patients with this devastating disease,” said Scancell CEO Richard Goodfellow.