Scancell Holdings PLC on Monday said it has expanded its Modi-1 trial for the use of checkpoint inhibitors on cancer patients.

Shares in the Nottingham, England-based cancer immunotherapies developer were up 25% at 11.53 pence each in London on Monday morning.

Scancell said the safety review committee has approved the addition of two new cohorts of 21 patients each.

This move follows the successful completion of cohort four of the trial, which showed that patients with renal, head and neck cancer who received at least two doses of Modi-1 combined with CPI tolerated the treatment well, with no safety concerns.

The trial will not include patients suffering from breast cancer.

In addition, the company said recruitment into the neoadjuvant arm of the Modi-1 trial in combination with CPI was also approved. The study will recruit 30 patients who will receive either two doses of Modi-1 three weeks apart or two doses of Modi-1 plus one dose of CPI.

Modi-1 is a vaccine which targets anti-tumour activity.

Chief Executive Officer Lindy Durrant said: ‘This is an important milestone for the company as we now have approval to treat patients with Modi-1 monotherapy or in combination with a CPI in four different tumour types either pre- or post-tumour resection. The information extracted from this study will be invaluable in defining the patient population that will benefit the most from our cancer vaccine, Modi-1.’

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