Immunicum is featured on Swedish national TV on SVT1. See the feature here.

The company is also presented in DN. Read the article here.

The Medical Products Agency approves Immunicum's application to start a clinical phase I/II trial (EudraCT-nr 2011-002039-25) in renal cell carcinoma. The trial is expected to commence in Q1 2012.

Read the news in Nyteknik here.

In connection with the announcement that the Nobel Prize in Medicin 2011 goes to Ralph Steinman for his discovery of the dendritic cell and its central role in immune responses, Immunicum is showcased in media (see below) as a promising cancer vaccine company sprung from Steinman's discovery.

- NyTeknik (111012). Read the article here.

- GT (111014). Read the article here.

- BiotechSweden (111111). Read the article here.

- Kemivärlden Biotech (111114). Read the article here .

Immunicum successfully completes a larger toxicity study as, which is an important step towards receiving an approval from the Medical Products Agency to initiate its first clinical trial.

Injection of COMBIG cells into the kidneys of rats did not cause any effects on health status, haematology, clinical chemistry, or histopathology neither acutely, within days after injection, nor after a repeated administration.

Immunicum receives a letter-of-intent from UK-based Cancer Vaccine Institute (CVI), stating that CVI is interested in co-funding and conducting a clinical phase I/II trial in melanoma, using Immunicum's COMBIG-concept. Below, professor Angus Dalgliesh, principal of CVI, expresses his support for Immunicum's vaccine technology:

"We recently met with representatives of Immunicum who presented the COMBIG concept of allo-DC vaccination. Our own experience with allo-vaccines (much of which was done in collaboration with Onyvax Ltd), in the context of whole cell vaccination, has been very convincing. The concept that allo-vaccination with DCs triggers a cascade of immune responses including innate (NK cell activation) and subsequent adaptive, antigen specific responses is interesting and is deserving of further development. We are fully supportive of this work and believe that this allo-DC model may well result in the initiation of anti-tumoural responses where in vitro manipulated autologous DCs have limitations both in terms of GMP manufacture and in their capacity to generate consistent clinical responses. The use of intralesional delivery is of further interest to us and is supported by several recent publications on the intralesional delivery of cellular therapies. Our own clinical experience suggests that such an approach would be of benefit in melanoma and a range of other solid tumours."

The European Patent Office (EPO) notifies Immunicum that it accepts the claims stated in the patent application 03 730 977.0-2406 and intends to grant a patent on the basis of these claims.

The patent covers the use of antigen-presenting-cells, such as DCs, loaded with antigens, for use as an allogeneic vaccine in an MHC-incompatible subject.

Immunicum welcomes Agneta Edberg as new Chairman of the Board and thanks Olle Stenberg for his previous contribution to the company's development! Immunicum also welcomes Linnéa Lindau, business coach at Chalmers Innovation, as new member of the board.

Agneta Edberg's background: LinkMed's COO and VP Senior Venture Manager, Vice President, Bactiguard AB. CEO for LFF Service AB, The Swedish Pharmaceutical Insurance Association, 2005–2006. Previous leading positions at Pfizer and Pharmacia, CEO for NM Pharma AB, Cederroth International, Farmos Group AB, and Cilag AB. Chairperson of the VinnExcellence project BioMatCell.

Immunicum receives 3 500 000 SEK from "The Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems'" (VINNOVA's) program "Innovations for Future Health" for initiating a clinical phase 1/2-trial on renal cancer patients. Among a total of 250 applicants, Immunicum was one of 13 organizations which received funding, after having been reviewed by 17 experts in different areas, based on the following motivation:

"The application describes an interesting and important project with possibilities of hindering growth and development of existing tumors, and a vision of hindering growth of new tumors. The concept is considered to be based on well-founded research. There is good potential that the treatment will be used as a cancer therapy, as well as for other indications. The application has a good clinical relevance, patent strategy, and commercialization plan."

Immunicum welcomes renowned professor Rolf Kiessling as member of the company's Scientific Advisory Board!

Rolf Kiessling, MD, PhD, is professor in Experimental Oncology at Karolinska Institutet since 1995 and has a part-time position as Chief Physician at Radiumhemmet, Karolinska hospital. His research group is located at the Cancer Center Karolinska (CCK). R.K. has published more than 200 publications in peer review journals and has a broad scientific expertise the field of experimental and clinical immunology. Among his earliest achievements, he discovered and named the Natural Killer cell (NK cell) during the mid 70th, a discovery for which he was awarded "Anders Jahres medicinska pris for yngre forskare" 1985 and "Erik Fehrnströms pris” 1989. A more recent research focus his group has been the area of immune therapy of cancer where his group is carrying out investigator initiated clinical trials on cancer patients and also performing basic research in pre-clinical animal models.