On October 21, 2020 Epsilogen Ltd, a global leader in the development of novel immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies to treat cancer, reported the award of a £1 million Smart Grant from the UK’s innovation agency, Innovate UK (Press release, Epsilogen, OCT 21, 2020, View Source [SID1234568793]). 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.
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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 patients.
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."