Scancell Holdings Plc, (AIM:SCLP), the developer of novel immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer, today announces the appointments of Dr John Chiplin to the Board of Scancell as a Non-Executive Director, and Dr Peter Brown as an advisor to the Company, with immediate effect. Their experience from an operational, clinical development and investment perspective will be invaluable as the Company grows.

John, aged 56, has significant international experience particularly in the US life science and technology industries. Most recently, John has been instrumental in the NASDAQ Initial Public Offering of Benitec Biopharma (ASX: BLT; NASDAQ BNTC), the clinical stage biotechnology company, where he has been a Non-Executive Director since 2010. He also serves on the boards of Cynata Therapeutics, Adalta, Batu Biologics, Prophecy, ScienceMedia and the Coma Research Institute. Previously John was President and Chief Executive Officer of Polynoma, a Phase III cancer vaccine company, and from 2006 to 2009 he was Chief Executive Officer of Arana Therapeutics. Prior to this, was head of the ITI Life Sciences investment fund in the UK, where he managed significant negotiations regarding funding with Government Ministers.

Since 2000, John has managed his own investment company, Newstar Ventures, which, over the past decade, has funded over a dozen early stage companies. He has been influential in various other transactions including Intrexon’s acquisition of Medistem, Cephalon’s acquisition of Arana Therapeutics and GlaxoSmithKline’s acquisition of Domantis.

Speaking upon his appointment, Dr John Chiplin said: “I am delighted to be joining the Board of Scancell at such an exciting time in its development. I look forward to working alongside the team as the Company continues to grow into a key player in the immuno-oncology space.”

Peter is a highly experienced pre-clinical and clinical development consultant to the pharmaceutical industry, having most recently served as Vice President & Global Head of Oncology at Teva Pharmaceuticals. Prior to joining Teva, Peter served as Vice President of Clinical Oncology & Experimental Medicine at Cephalon. Here, Peter led the clinical development program for bendamustine and was a key member of the team that completed the NDA submission that led to bendamustine's approval as TREANDA. Peter has designed and conducted global clinical trials in oncology ranging from Phase 1 to pivotal Phase 3, including several first-inhuman studies with novel agents. He has also authored over 60 peer reviewed publications, and has co-authored a number of patents relating to oncology drug development.

Dr Peter Brown commented: “Scancell’s area of research is one of great interest and importance and I look forward to working with the Company as they further progress their product portfolio.”

David Evans, Non-Executive Chairman of Scancell, said: “These changes will help prepare Scancell for its transition into a key player in the rapidly growing immune-oncology sector. We are delighted to welcome both John and Peter to Scancell. John’s wealth of experience in the sector, from both an operational and investment standpoint, especially in the context of the US, the largest healthcare market in the world; and Peter’s expertise in both pre-clinical and clinical development in the oncology space, will be invaluable as the Company continues to grow and as our lead ImmunoBody®, SCIB1, progresses through the clinic.”

Schedule Two information regarding Dr John Chiplin:

Current Directorships
AdAlta Pty (Australia)
Batu Biologics Inc. (US)
Benitec Ltd. (Australia)
Coma Research Institute (US)
Cynata Therapeutics Ltd. (Australia)
Prophecy Inc. (US)
ScienceMedia Inc. (US)

Directorships in the past five years
Medistem Inc. (US)
Polynoma LLC. (US)
Ribomed, Inc. (US)

There are no other disclosures required in relation to Rule 17 or paragraph (g) of Schedule 2 of the AIM Rules for Companies.

For Further Information:

Notes to Editors

About Scancell

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

Scancell’s first ImmunoBody®, SCIB1 is being developed for the treatment of melanoma and is being evaluated in a Phase 1/2 clinical trial. Data from the trial demonstrate that SCIB1, when used as monotherapy, has a marked effect on tumour load, produces a melanoma-specific immune response and highly encouraging survival trend without serious side effects. In patients with resected disease there is increasing evidence to suggest that SCIB1 may delay or prevent disease recurrence.

Scancell’s ImmunoBody® vaccines target dendritic cells and stimulate both parts of the cellular immune system: the helper cell system where inflammation is stimulated at the tumour site and the cytotoxic Tlymphocyte or CTL response where immune system cells are primed to recognise and kill specific cells.

Pre-clinical data on a combination of SCIB1 or SCIB2 and checkpoint inhibition (blockade of the PD-1 or CTLA-4 immune checkpoint pathways) have shown enhanced tumour destruction and significantly longer survival times than when either treatment was used alone.

Scancell has also identified and patented a series of modified epitopes that stimulate the production of killer CD4+ T cells that destroy tumours without toxicity. The Directors believe that the Moditope® platform could play a major role in the development of safe and effective cancer immunotherapies in the future.