Scancell shares jump on new antibody agreement with major biotech firm

Scancell Holdings saw shares surge on Wednesday after the the AIM-listed oncology immunotherapies group announced an agreement with a "major international biotechnology company".

The deal will see the unnamed company exclusively evaluate a Scancell investigational anti-glycan monoclonal antibody for development of novel therapeutic products.

Scancell has granted he company seven months exclusivity for evaluation, which includes an $1m exclusivity payment. The agreement also includes the option to licence.

"This is now the second anti-glycan monoclonal antibody generated via our proprietary GlyMab® platform to be evaluated, the first now being developed under a commercial licence agreement," said chief executive Lindy Durrant.

"This provides further validation of the potential of our antibody platform to create novel, differentiated antibody products."

The anti-glycan monoclonal antibody is one of five monoclonal antibodies currently in Scancell's antibody portfolio.

The stock was up 9.5% at 10.3p by 0824 BST.