- MOv18 IgE is currently in phase 1 clinical trial in cancer patients with advanced solid tumours
- Folate receptor alpha most commonly overexpressed on tumour cells in ovarian cancer
- Investors commit to a further £3 million Series A2 financing of Company
London, 20 April 2020 – Epsilogen (formerly IGEM Therapeutics), a global leader in the development of immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies to treat cancer, today announces that it has in-licenced exclusive global rights to MOv18 IgE, an anti-folate receptor alpha IgE antibody from King’s College London (KCL). Financial terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.
The antibody, which was developed at KCL in collaboration with Cancer Research UK, is the first therapeutic IgE antibody to enter clinical trials. Cancer Research UK is funding, sponsoring and conducting an on-going phase I clinical trial in patients with advanced cancer expressing folate receptor alpha (FR alpha). As separately announced today, interim data from this trial will be presented at the forthcoming American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Virtual Annual Meeting I which begins on 27 April 2020. Folate receptor alpha (FR alpha) is selectively expressed most commonly on the surface of ovarian cancer cells, making it a promising target for IgE antibody therapy for this cancer which has relatively few effective treatment alternatives.
Epsilogen will continue the further clinical development of MOv18 IgE and has put in place a comprehensive manufacturing programme with a leading contract development and manufacturing organisation. Funding for this manufacturing work has been provided by a further £3 million Series A2 investment from Epsilogen’s existing investors Epidarex Capital, ALSA Holdings and the UCL Technology Fund.
Dr Tim Wilson, Chief Executive Officer of Epsilogen, said:
“We are very pleased to have in-licensed this promising new therapy which has the potential to target a very serious cancer with relatively few effective treatment alternatives. We are grateful to our scientific founders Professors Sophia Karagiannis and James Spicer of KCL for conducting the early scientific research on MOv18 IgE and also to Cancer Research UK for investing in and developing the product through its early clinical phase. We also wish to thank our investor group for continuing to support us with further financing via the Series A2.”
About Epsilogen Ltd (formerly IGEM Therapeutics)
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.
The company has raised Series A finance from Epidarex Capital, ALSA Holdings 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*).
World-changing ideas. Life-changing impact: https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/headlines.aspx
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