Immatics’ tumor-associated peptides will be incorporated into Scancell’s ImmunoBody constructs.

Scancell and immatics biotechnologies have combined their therapeutic vaccine technologies to develop vaccines for colorectal cancer. If the research project is successful, immatics and Scancell will explore the development of other candidates.

Immatics identifies tumor-associated peptides (TUMAPs) with the highest specificity for particular cancers directly from primary human tumor tissue samples. The most suitable ones are combined into a single multipeptide product to form a therapeutic cancer vaccine. The goal is to provoke a number of specific T-cell responses to destroy tumor cells presenting the TUMAPs. Scancell’s Immunobody® platform, on the other hand, specifically targets dendritic cells.

In their research collaboration, colorectal cancer-specific TUMAPs will be incorporated into ImmunoBody constructs to create ImmunoBody vaccines targeted toward colorectal cancer.

Immatics’ most advanced product, IMA901, successfully completed a European Phase II trial in renal cancer. The company’s pipeline also includes IMA910 for the treatment of colorectal carcinoma, which recently entered a Phase I/II trial.

Scancell’s first ImmunoBody vaccine is SCIB1, a DNA vaccine against TRP-2, a melanoma protein called tyrosinase-related protein 2.  It is currently in Phase I trials and is anticipated to lead to the inhibition and regression of both primary and metastatic melanoma tumor growth.

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