Scancell granted product licence extension from Ichor Medical Systems

Scancell, the developer of immunotherapies for cancer treatments, was granted a product licence option extension from Ichor Medical Systems.

The extension is to licence the commercial use of Ichor's TriGrid electroporation delivery system with SCIB1, Scancell's ImmunoBody vaccine, which treats melanoma.

Under the terms of the agreed extension, Scancell's licence option, which was due to expire on 13 July, was extended to 13 July 2018.

In exchange, Scancell granted a partial waiver over the two year lock-up which prohibited the sale of over 3,184,620 ordinary shares in the company, that were issued as part of payment for the licence option in July 2009 and extended in July 2014.

Ichor will be under an orderly market agreement, meaning any sale of ordinary shares during a two year period needs to go through Scancell's brokers.

Scancell chief executive Richard Goodfellow said: "Ichor's proprietary TriGrid electroporation delivery system remains central to our studies on SCIB1 and in particular, to our upcoming US clinical study of SCIB1 in combination with a checkpoint inhibitor, expected to commence in 2017.

“We are delighted to have extended the licence option agreement to commercialise their technology on the terms as set out above and we appreciate Ichor's continued support of our SCIB1 programme as we continue its clinical development as a potential treatment for patients with melanoma."

Ichor president and chief executive Robert Bernard said: "Scancell has continued to generate outstanding survival data using our TriGrid electroporation delivery system in conjunction with their lead ImmunoBody vaccine, SCIB1.

“We believe that SCIB1 has the potential to be a significant new treatment option for patients with melanoma, and we look forward to continuing to work with Scancell on this exciting product."

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

Shares in Scancell were down 2.72% to 18.97p at 1259 BST.