Epsilogen Announces Successful Completion of First Ever Clinical Trial of an IgE Antibody; Phase I Data for MOv18 IgE Demonstrates Potential of IgE Therapy in Cancer
25.7.2023 12:15:00 EEST | Business Wire | Press release
Epsilogen, a global leader in the development of immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies to treat cancer, notes the publication today of the final phase I data from the first ever clinical trial of an IgE antibody therapeutic in Nature Communications (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-023-39679-9). MOv18 IgE is Epsilogen’s lead IgE antibody drug candidate and binds to anti-folate receptor (FRα), a well validated target for ovarian cancer. It was administered to 26 patients with high grade serous ovarian carcinoma whose cancer had become platinum-resistant.
Results from the study, entitled “A Cancer Research UK phase I study of MOv18 IgE, a first in class chimeric IgE antibody against folate receptor-alpha, in patients with advanced solid tumours” (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02546921), showed a manageable safety profile with transient urticaria being the most common adverse event. The urticaria always resolved within hours of dosing, either spontaneously or with the administration of systemic steroids and antihistamines.
Although the trial was not designed to demonstrate efficacy, tumour shrinkage and an associated fall in CA 125 tumour marker level was seen in one patient. Notably, the authors of the paper observed that the anti-tumour activity “occurred at doses very much lower than typically observed for IgG antibodies”, reflecting fundamental differences in Fc-receptor affinity and effector cell biology.
Professor James Spicer, Professor of Experimental Cancer Medicine at King’s College London, Consultant in Medical Oncology at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust (GSTT) and the study’s lead investigator, said: “IgE is a completely new form of antibody therapy which has shown great promise in this phase I trial. Our findings show that the drug was well tolerated in patients and shrunk a cancerous tumour in a patient with ovarian cancer. The results pave the way to development of an entirely new class of anti-cancer drug for people with chemotherapy-resistant cancers. The immunology expertise in King’s College London laboratories allowed us to undertake this trial of a completely new form of antibody therapy.”
Dr Tim Wilson, Chief Executive Officer of Epsilogen, commented: “The data published in Nature Communications, are encouraging and add further validation to support our belief that IgE antibodies have the potential to emerge as an entirely new treatment modality for patients with cancer. We have a robust clinical development plan in place to progress MOv18 IgE further into the clinic and the data generated will assist us in the development of our other IgE antibody drug candidates”.
ENDS
About Epsilogen Ltd
Epsilogen is a global leader in the development of immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies to treat cancer. IgE’s natural function is to provide immunological defense against certain parasites. This functionality makes it an ideal treatment of solid tumours due to its strong potency, enhanced tumour access and long tissue half-life.
Epsilogen’s lead product candidate, MOv18 IgE, is the first therapeutic IgE antibody to enter the clinic and encouraging data from a completed phase I trial demonstrated MOv18 IgE to be safe and well tolerated with early signs of clinical activity. The company is also developing a proprietary IgEG antibody platform combining elements from both IgE and IgG antibodies into novel and proprietary antibody molecules with enhanced functionality.
Epsilogen began operations in 2017 as a spin out of King’s College London and has attracted venture capital financing from Epidarex Capital, Novartis Venture Fund, 3B Future Health, British Patient Capital, Alsa Ventures and Schroders Capital amongst others. Find out more at epsilogen.com.
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230724924742/en/
Contact information
For more information:
Communications advisor to Epsilogen Ltd:
Simon Conway
Senior Managing Director
FTI Consulting
epsilogen@fticonsulting.com
+44 (0)20 3727 1000
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Vedanta Ltd Doubles Zinc Capacity in South Africa with US$ 600 Mn investment19.10.2026 20:19:00 EEST | Press release
Vedanta Limited doubled its annual zinc production capacity to 500,000 tonnes1in South Africa through an investment of nearly US$ 600 Mn at Gamsberg (Phase II) at Vedanta Zinc International (VZI). Gamsberg has one of the world’s most significant zinc deposits and is VZI’s flagship zinc mine. Inaugurated by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Vedanta Limited Director Priya Agarwal-Hebbar, this expansion marks one of the decade’s largest mining investments in South Africa. It advances Vedanta Limited’s position as the world’s largest2 zinc producer, with a vision of achieving 3 million tonnes of annual production across India and South Africa. Of this, 2 million tonnes are targeted from its subsidiary, Hindustan Zinc Limited the world’s largest integrated zinc producer, while Vedanta Zinc International business aims to contribute 1 million tonnes annually. This expansion strengthens the ZAR 21 Bn (nearly US$ 1.5 Bn) investment commitment Vedanta made at the 2018 South Africa Inve
Unlocking Digital Gold’s US$700bn Opportunity19.10.2026 19:00:00 EEST | Press release
The digital gold market, worth US$45–55bn today, could unlock up to US$700bn in latent demand, according to new research from World Gold Council and Boston Consulting Group. The report points to substantial untapped appetite among retail investors, with nearly nine in ten surveyed saying they would consider digital gold under the right conditions. The US$700bn opportunity represents the report’s estimate of total latent demand that could be released if today’s barriers to adoption were removed, rather than a near-term forecast. The report’s five-year base case sees digital gold growing by around 27% a year to US$160–170bn by 2031. That could rise to US$270–280bn over the same time if more barriers fall faster. Momentum is already building as financial markets undergo a broader digital transformation, bringing tokenised investment products increasingly into the mainstream. Tokenised gold, one segment of the digital gold market alongside vaulted digital gold, has grown fivefold in value
Roquette Brings Broad Portfolio of Excipient Solutions and Technical Expertise to AAPS PharmSci 360 202619.10.2026 17:00:00 EEST | Press release
Roquette, a global leader in plant-based ingredients, excipients and pharmaceutical solutions, will showcase its expansive portfolio of excipients, capsules, coatings, and biopharma solutions at AAPS PharmSci 360 2026. The conference and trade show will take place October 26-28 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. At Booth 1100 in the exhibit hall, Roquette’s Health & Pharma Solutions team will share their expertise across controlled-release technologies, hydroxypropyl beta-cyclodextrins, and sustainable formulation approaches, alongside a comprehensive portfolio of innovative solutions designed to address the evolving needs of pharmaceutical developers. “AAPS PharmSci 360 is a key opportunity to share our latest innovations, as well as highlight the breadth and depth of our scientific know-how that helps our customers solve complex formulation challenges,” said Peter Freed, Head of Technical Service & Development North America for Roquette’s Health & Pharma Solutions Business Unit. “From a
TestGorilla Survey: Recruiters are Faster with AI, but Not More Confident They’re Finding the Right Candidates19.10.2026 16:00:00 EEST | Press release
AI made finding candidates faster for 72% of US recruiters over the last 12 months, according to TestGorilla's Recruiting in 2026 report, a survey of 1,428 US talent professionals. That speed, however, did not make them any more confident they had found the right person. In fact, of the recruiters that claim AI has made them faster, a third reported no gain in confidence at all, and 18% say their confidence in the match actually fell. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261019723138/en/ Recruiters report gains in speed from AI but not in certainty - TestGorilla’s Recruiting in the AI era 2026 report Recruiters are making up the difference themselves, by hand. Of those recruiters, 67% now spend an hour or more manually checking a single candidate before they trust that person can do the job, and nearly 30% spend two hours or more. That is time AI sourcing was supposed to save, not divert to new, extra work. "Recrui
Fortanix Announces Confidential AI for Enterprise Grade Kubernetes Workloads on CNCF® Confidential Containers (CoCo)19.10.2026 16:00:00 EEST | Press release
Fortanix® Inc., a global leader in data and AI security and pioneer of Confidential Computing, today announced support for CNCF Confidential Containers (CoCo) in Fortanix Confidential AI, enabling organizations to run AI workloads on Kubernetes inside hardware-based Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs), on confidential CPUs and GPUs. Enterprises keep the speed and agility of containers while protecting sensitive data, AI models, agents, and applications in use, so they can support their regulatory compliance efforts, scale AI across the business, and adopt frontier AI without compromising data privacy or intellectual property. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261019549928/en/ Confidential AI is a critical need in the industry today and a strong ecosystem of industry leaders is collaborating to advance open innovation and help enterprises securely adopt AI at scale. Regulated industries, including financial ser
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom