Epsilogen announces further UK government funding for further development of a novel IgE antibody cancer immunotherapeutic
Company receives second Innovate UK Smart Grant
Collaboration with King's College London
London, 21 October 2020
- Epsilogen Ltd, a global leader in the development of novel immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies to treat cancer, today announced the award of a £1 million Smart Grant from the UK's innovation agency, Innovate UK. Epsilogen will collaborate with King's College London and use the Smart Grant in a project to further develop the company's novel cancer immunotherapeutic, EPS 201.
The project directly follows and is founded upon the outputs from Epsilogen's previous Biomedical Catalyst Primer grant, which sought to move the Company's EPS 201 programme closer to the clinic. EPS 201 is a novel IgE-based therapeutic targeting HER2 positive (HER2+ve) solid tumours, harnessing the potent IgE-mediated immune response already showing promise clinically with Epsilogen's lead drug MOv18-IgE.
EPS201 could address a large unmet need in breast cancer patients with HER2+ve cancers that fail to meet the HER2 expression level needed for Herceptin treatment. Currently, these patients have a five-year survival of less than 70%, which is much lower than that for HER2 negative patients1.
Epsilogen's share of the grant is £0.7m, with the remaining £0.3m being used by King's to fund the research scientist and laboratory team working on the project.
Dr Tim Wilson, Chief Executive Officer of Epsilogen, commented
: "We are proud to have been awarded another grant from Innovate UK for our pioneering work developing IgE-based therapeutics. It is a recognition of our progress to date and the potential that our therapies have in treating patients with cancer. We are looking forward to continuing our very successful collaboration with King's College London and Professor Karagiannis, whose ground-breaking work is the foundation of the company we are today."
Dr Sophia Karagiannis, Professor of Translational Cancer Immunology and Immunotherapy from King's College London, commented:
"IgE therapies have a clear differentiation from IgG-based therapies, given their completely unique anti-cancer mode of action. Furthermore, EPS 201 has potential to address a large unmet need in breast cancer patients with HER2 positive cancers, making it an ideal candidate for further funding and investigation."
1Tovey et al, 2009
ENDS
About Epsilogen Ltd
Epsilogen is a global leader in the development of immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies to treat cancer. IgE has several key features that make it ideal for the treatment of solid tumours including greater potency, enhanced tumour access and a long tissue half-life.
Epsilogen's lead product candidate, MOv18 IgE, is the first therapeutic IgE antibody to enter clinical trials and is currently in a phase I study in cancer patients with advanced solid tumours, principally ovarian. Encouraging Interim data from this trial was presented at the AACR Virtual Annual Meeting in April, with results supporting for the first time, the safety and potential efficacy of an IgE antibody as a treatment for advanced cancer.
The company has raised Series A finance from Epidarex Capital, ALSA Ventures and the UCL Technology Fund.
About King's College London
King's College London is one of the top 10 UK universities in the world (QS World University Rankings, 2018/19) and among the oldest in England. King's has more than 31,000 students (including more than 12,800 postgraduates) from some 150 countries worldwide, and some 8,500 staff.
King's has an outstanding reputation for world-class teaching and cutting-edge research. In the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (REF), eighty-four per cent of research at King's was deemed 'world-leading' or 'internationally excellent' (3* and 4*).
About Innovate UK
Innovate UK is the UK's innovation agency. It works with people, companies and partner organisations to find and drive the science and technology innovations that will grow the UK economy. For further information visit
www.innovateuk.gov.uk
For more information please contact:
Communications advisor to Epsilogen Ltd:
Simon Conway
Senior Managing Director
FTI Consulting
simon.conway@fticonsulting.com
+44 (0)20 3727 1000
