Immunocore and MedImmune Announce New Collaboration to Conduct Immuno-oncology Combination Trails in Melanoma

OXFORD, England, April 16, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

Immunocore Limited, a world-leading biotechnology company developing novel biological drugs to treat cancer and other diseases, and MedImmune, the global biologics research and development arm of AstraZeneca, today announced that they have entered into a second collaboration.

Under the terms of the agreement, Immunocore will conduct a Phase Ib/II clinical trial combining MedImmune's investigational checkpoint inhibitors MEDI4736 (anti-PD-L1) and/or tremelimumab (anti-CTLA-4) with IMCgp100, Immunocore's lead T-cell receptor based investigational therapeutic, for the potential treatment of patients with metastatic melanoma.  MedImmune has an exclusive relationship with Immunocore for the development of IMCgp100 in combination with MEDI4736 and/or tremelimumab, and will have first right of negotiation for the future commercial development of these combinations for tumours expressing gp100.

Immunocore and MedImmune will collaborate to establish a dosing regimen for IMCgp100 combined with MEDI4736 and/or tremelimumab, as part of the Phase Ib study. The Phase II study will assess the safety and efficacy of the different combinations.

The companies have a pre-existing research collaboration and licensing agreement, announced in January 2014, to develop novel cancer therapies using Immunocore's Immune Mobilising Monoclonal T-Cell Receptor Against Cancer (ImmTAC) technology.  

"We are pleased to expand our partnership with Immunocore, a leader in the discovery and development of novel T-cell receptor-based drugs, to include this combination clinical trial in melanoma," said Dr. Ed Bradley, Senior Vice President and Head of the Oncology Innovative Medicines unit, MedImmune. "Immuno-oncology is a priority area for us and by employing combinations with biological synergies, we believe we have the potential to enhance treatment effectiveness and ultimately to see improved overall survival rates. Our partnership with Immunocore is further evidence of our belief that combination therapies have the potential to be one of the most effective ways of treating cancer."

"We are excited to deepen our relationship with MedImmune through this combination study agreement. We look forward to a successful partnership in the development of novel combination treatments in metastatic melanoma, which we believe have the potential to be best-in-class treatments," said Eliot Forster, Chief Executive Officer of Immunocore.

MEDI4736, tremelimumab and IMCgp100 are members of a new class of cancer treatments known as immunotherapies, which are designed to enhance the body's own immune system in fighting cancer.

AstraZeneca and MedImmune have a broad programme of immuno-oncology combination trials planned and underway to address multiple immune pathways, harnessing the company's own extensive pipeline and working in partnership to explore the significant potential of immunotherapies in transforming the way cancer patients are treated.

Notes for editors 

About Melanoma 

Melanoma is a form of skin cancer that accounts for less than five per cent of cases but causes the vast majority of skin cancer deaths. Incidence rates are increasing more rapidly than for any other cancer and by 2019 there are forecast to be around 227,000 cases diagnosed worldwide each year(Datamonitor report DMHC2628). Unlike other common cancers, melanoma has a wide age distribution.

Patients who are diagnosed early are treatable with surgical resection, but for many the disease will recur. Once melanoma progresses to late stage disease and becomes metastatic the prognosis is poor, with a median survival period of around eight months for patients with advanced melanoma. A number of agents have been approved for melanoma recently and these have shown significant responses in patients, though long term response durability in the majority of patients remains elusive.

About IMCgp100 and ImmTACs 

Immunocore's proprietary technology is focused on small protein molecules called ImmTACs (Immune mobilising mTCR Against Cancer) that enable the immune system to recognise and kill cancerous cells.

Immunocore's ImmTACs, a new class of drug with ultra-high affinity for intracellular cancer targets, are synthetic, soluble T cell receptors (TCRs) that recognise diseased cells containing disease specific targets. The ImmTACs enable circulating T-cells to selectively identify and kill diseased cells.  The ImmTAC platform is unique and has very high specificity and potency as well as broad applicability to a wide range of intracellular targets.  ImmTACs can access up to nine-fold more targets than typical antibody-based therapies, including monoclonal antibodies.

TCRs naturally recognise diseased cells and Immunocore's world-leading competitive advantage is its ability to engineer high affinity TCRs and link them to an antibody fragment that activates a highly potent and specific T cell response to recognise and destroy cancer cells.

The most advanced ImmTAC, IMCgp100, is currently in Phase IIa clinical trials for the treatment of late stage melanoma. Following completion of a Phase I study at the end of 2013, which showed promising results with an encouraging safety profile and early signs of efficacy, Immunocore initiated a Phase IIa study to optimize the dosing regimen of IMCgp100. Immunocore has a growing internal pipeline of ImmTACs addressing many different cancer types and has developed a broad database of intracellular cancer targets.  

ImmTACs can be manufactured in a high-yield, fully-scalable and low cost microbial system. They are extremely stable with a multi-year shelf-life.

About MEDI4736 

MEDI4736 is an investigational human monoclonal antibody directed against programmed cell death ligand 1 (PD-L1). Signals from PD-L1 help tumours avoid detection by the immune system. MEDI4736 blocks these signals, countering the tumour's immune-evading tactics.

MEDI4736 was accelerated into Phase III clinical development in non-small cell lung cancer and head and neck cancer. The OCEANS clinical development programme will evaluate MEDI4736 as monotherapy and in combination with a CTLA-4 (tremelimumab) in lung cancer, across the spectrum of the disease. In head and neck cancer, MEDI4736 is being investigated both as monotherapy and in combination with tremelimumab, looking at patients with different PD-L1 expression status who have failed on chemotherapy.

About tremelimumab 

Tremelimumab is a fully human monoclonal IgG2 antibody which which stimulates the immune system to destroy cancer cells through binding to the protein CTLA-4, expressed on the surface of activated T lymphocytes.

Tremelimumab has been granted Orphan Drug Designation by the US FDA for the treatment of patients with malignant mesothelioma. It is also currently being studied in combination with AstraZeneca's anti -PD-L1 investigational immunotherapy, MEDI4736, in tumour types including non-small cell lung cancer and head and neck cancer. It is also being studied in combination with Iressa (gefitinib) in EGFR mutated non-small cell lung cancer and with MEDI6469 (a murine OX40 agonist) in solid tumours.

About Immunocore 

Immunocore is one of the world's leading biotechnology companies, with a highly innovative immuno-oncology platform technology called ImmTACs. ImmTACs are a novel class of biologic drugs based on the Company's proprietary T cell receptor (TCR) technology which have the potential to treat diseases with high unmet medical need including cancer, viral infections and autoimmune diseases.  Immunocore has a pipeline of wholly-owned and partnered ImmTAC programmes with robust clinical data, based on decades of world-leading scientific innovation in the discovery of HLA targets and T cell receptor technology and validated by collaborations with world-leading pharmaceutical companies.  Immunocore aims to leverage the utility of its platform across a wide range of indications to become a Premier Biotech company and world-leader in its field.

Immunocore's world-leading science and strong IP position has attracted major pharmaceutical companies including Genentech, GlaxoSmithKline, MedImmune, the biologics division of AstraZeneca, via discovery collaborations, as well as a co-discovery and co-development partnership with Lilly.  Founded in 2008 originally out of Oxford University and headquartered outside Oxford, Immunocore now has more than 140 staff. Immunocore is well funded and owned by a group of long-term private investors. For more information, please visit http://www.immunocore.com

About MedImmune 

MedImmune is the worldwide biologics research and development arm of AstraZeneca, a global, innovation-driven biopharmaceutical business that focuses on the discovery, development and commercialization of small molecule and biologic prescription medicines. MedImmune is pioneering innovative research and exploring novel pathways across key therapeutic areas, including respiratory, inflammation and autoimmunity; cardiovascular and metabolic disease; oncology; neuroscience; and infection and vaccines. The MedImmune headquarters is located in Gaithersburg, Md., one of AstraZeneca's three global R&D centers. For more information, please visit http://www.medimmune.com.  

About AstraZeneca 

AstraZeneca is a global, innovation-driven biopharmaceutical business that focuses on the discovery, development and commercialisation of prescription medicines, primarily for the treatment of cardiovascular, metabolic, respiratory, inflammation, autoimmune, oncology, infection and neuroscience diseases. AstraZeneca operates in over 100 countries and its innovative medicines are used by millions of patients worldwide. For more information please visit: http://www.astrazeneca.com.

For more information, please contact:

Immunocore
Eliot Forster, Chief Executive Officer
T: +44(0)1235-438600
E: info@immunocore.com

Consilium Strategic Communications
Mary-Jane Elliott/Jessica Hodgson/Chris Welsh/Laura Thornton
T: +44(0)203-709-5700
E: Immunocore@consilium-comms.com