Scancell Holdings Plc, the developer of therapeutic cancer vaccines, has entered into a strategic collaboration with ImmuneRegen BioSciences, Inc ('ImmuneRegen'), a wholly-owned subsidiary of IR BioSciences Holdings, Inc. Under the agreement, Scancell and ImmuneRegen will work together to investigate the synergy between ImmuneRegen's Homspera and Scancell's ImmunoBody vaccine technologies.

Scancell's first vaccine using its patented ImmunoBody technology is SCIB1, a novel DNA vaccine being developed for the treatment of melanoma. An advantage of Scancell's Immunobody platform is that it specifically targets dendritic cells, leading to a significant enhancement of the immune response. This enhanced immune response against TRP-2 (a melanoma protein called Tyrosinase-Related Protein 2) is expected to lead to the inhibition and regression of both primary and metastatic melanoma tumour growth. Scancell is on track to commence its phase-I clinical trials for SCIB1 during Q2 2010.

ImmuneRegen's Homspera has previously been found to improve the efficacy of a TRP2 cancer vaccine in mice, resulting in persistent and specific immune responses associated with inhibition of melanoma tumor growth. Additionally, previous studies have demonstrated efficacy of Homspera in enhancing immune responses to infectious disease vaccines, such as influenza.

Hal Siegel, ImmuneRegen's chief scientific officer, commented, "We are excited to be commencing this relationship with Scancell. As ImmuneRegen and Scancell move towards the clinic independently, we feel this is the ideal time to collaborate on this project, with the goal of evaluating the combination of Scancell's dendritic cell targeting technology as applied to these melanoma antigens and ImmuneRegen's Homspera, which has shown dendritic cell immunostimulatory activity via dendritic cell responses to TRP2 directed against melanoma tumours. Ideally, we could be creating a combined product that represents the 'next generation' of cancer vaccine technology."

Professor Lindy Durrant, chief executive officer of Scancell, commented, "Combining Scancell's revolutionary ImmunoBody technology with Homspera might offer the opportunity to further improve the therapeutic potential of SCIB1. We are very much looking forward to collaborating with Immuneregen on this exciting project."

Scancell is developing novel therapeutic vaccines for the treatment of cancer and infectious diseases based on its groundbreaking ImmunoBody technology platform.

ImmuneRegen BioSciences, a wholly owned subsidiary of IR BioSciences Holdings, Inc, is a development-stage biotechnology company focused on the research, development and licensing of Homspera.