23rd March 2010 – Oxford Immunotec Ltd, today announces that it has signed a contract with Scancell Ltd to provide services in support of Scancell’s Phase I/II clinical trial with SCIB1 Scancell’s DNA ImmunoBody® vaccine for the treatment of melanoma. Under the contract, Oxford Immunotec will utilize its ELISpot technology to measure T cell responses to SCIB1.
Scancell’s immunotherapy is designed to generate the high-avidity T-cells that kill cancer cells. Oxford Immunotec’s laboratory will provide T cell separation, cryo-preservation and the ELISpot assays required by Scancell to measure T cell responses to SCIB1.
Commenting on the collaboration, Dr Peter Wrighton-Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Oxford Immunotec, said, “As our understanding of human immune biology progresses, we expect to see an increasing number of innovative approaches that elicit response from the cellular components of the immune systems, in particular T cell responses. Monitoring of T cell responses in trials such as Scancell’s melanoma immunotherapy trial will become increasingly important in correlating therapeutic effects of new products on the immune system and clinical end points.”
Professor Lindy Durrant, Chief Executive Officer of Scancell Ltd., stated, “We were impressed with Oxford Immunotec’s ELISpot expertise and systems and are delighted to use the company’s services for this critical assay in the assessment of safety and efficacy of our lead ImmunoBody® vaccine, SCIB1”.
