(Oxford, UK, 14 January 2014) Immunocore Limited, the Oxford-based biotechnology company developing novel biological drugs to treat cancer and viral disease, today announced that it will present at the 32nd annual JP Morgan Healthcare Conference on Thursday 16 January 2014 at 11:30 am (Pacific Time) at the Westin St Francis Hotel, San Francisco.
James Noble, Chief Executive Officer, will present a corporate update and data from Immunocore’s most advanced ImmTAC programme, IMCgp100, for the treatment of late stage melanoma. Phase I testing was completed in late 2013, with promising early signs of efficacy indicated, and the company has initiated a Phase IIa trial in the UK and USA designed to optimize the dosing regimen and maximise the efficacy of IMCgp100.
Last week Immunocore announced its third partnership deal in six months - an oncology research collaboration and licensing agreement with MedImmune, the global biologics research and development arm of AstraZeneca. Both companies will research and develop novel cancer therapies using Immunocore’s ImmTAC technology.
Immunocore’s novel bi-specific biologics platform exploits the power of the body’s own immune system to find and kill diseased cells. ImmTACs direct a patient’s T cells to specifically destroy only the cancerous cells, avoiding damage to healthy cells.
Immunocore also has major discovery collaborations ongoing with leading pharmaceutical companies Genentech and GlaxoSmithKline.
Further details of the clinical trial for late stage melanoma are available at www.clinicaltrials.gov, under trial identifier number NCT01211262.
Contact
Margaret Henry
PR Consultant
Immunocore Ltd, UK
T: + 44 (0) 1865 261491
M: + 44 (0) 7771 377363
E: m.henry@oxin.co.uk
Images
1. James Noble, Chief Executive Officer of Immunocore
2. Immunocore laboratory – a scientist examines cells
3. T cell (grey) killing a tumour cell (yellow)
Killing cancer - video available on request
A video is available on request which shows melanoma cancer cells (red) being killed by T cells (blue) when activated by the drug, IMCgp100 (a melanoma specific ImmTAC). Healthy cells (green) are ignored and left undamaged. The video can be viewed at: http://www.immunocore.com/technology/cancer-killing/
About ImmTACs
Immunocore’s ImmTAC (Immune mobilising mTCR Against Cancer) technology enables the immune system to recognise and kill cancer or viral cells.
T Cell Receptors naturally recognise diseased cells and Immunocore’s competitive advantage is its ability to engineer high affinity T Cell Receptors and link them to an antibody fragment which can activate the immune system to kill the targeted cancer or viral cells. These bi-specific proteins, called ImmTACS, have the potential to be extremely potent anti-cancer or anti-viral agents.
About Immunocore
Founded in 2008, Immunocore Ltd is a privately owned, clinical-stage biotechnology company developing a highly innovative platform technology that generates novel drugs called ImmTACs for the treatment of cancer and viral infection. Immunocore traces its roots to Avidex Ltd, founded in 1999 as a spin-out from the University of Oxford to develop novel T Cell Receptor technology invented by the founder and chief scientist, Dr Bent Jakobsen.
Immunocore has major discovery collaborations ongoing with leading pharmaceutical companies Genentech and GlaxoSmithKline. The company was listed in the top 15 private biotech firms globally for 2013 by Fierce Biotech and named Best Biotech Dealmaker of 2013 at the OBN Awards. Immunocore has approximately 100 staff and is located in Abingdon, Oxfordshire. For more information, please visit www.immunocore.com
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