Scancell Holdings Plc (LON:SCLP) is a clinical stage pharmaceutical company developing two distinct flexible cancer immunotherapy platforms, each with broad applications. ImmunoBody is a DNA vaccine which stimulates high avidity anti-tumour T-cells for use as a monotherapy or in combination with checkpoint inhibitors. Moditope targets modified antigens and stimulates powerful anti-tumour T-cell responses for use in advanced and hard-to-treat cancers. Both platforms are targeting multi-billion dollar markets. The recent capital increase will be used to advance both platforms to the next stage of development and investment in corporate infrastructure.
► Strategy: Scancell is developing two proprietary immuno-oncology platforms which target cancer cells directly to produce potent T-cell responses. Both technologies are highly flexible, potentially targeting many types of cancer. The initial aim is to complete proof-of concept trials in five different indications.
► ImmunoBody: DNA-based platform administered using electroporation. It is the only DNA platform that utilises both cross- and direct-presentation. This dual mechanism provides a 100-fold increase in T-cell avidity. Phase II trials in combination with checkpoint inhibitors are scheduled for 2017.
► Moditope: Peptide-based immunotherapy platform that targets neo-epitopes in the stressed cellular environment generated during cancer development. It induces potent inflammatory T-cell responses, a new approach that works independently of checkpoint inhibitors for treatment of advanced cancers.
► Risks: The company is an early-stage drug development company which carries a high risk that a product might fail in clinical trials. Its activity focus on cancer immunotherapy is an extremely exciting, but competitive, field. More capital will be required to advance its proprietary assets further along the value chain.
► Investment summary: Scancell Holdings Plc is trading on an EV of £33m, compared to a cumulative investment of £19m to get the company where it is today, which is low compared to its relevant peers. Scancell’s proprietary technologies are in the ‘hot’ area of immuno-oncology and targeting markets of significant unmet medical need. Given that big pharma is willing to pay handsomely for such validated assets, we foresee considerable upside potential in the shares.
