2023 Company Presentations
Epsilogen
Profile
Epsilogen is a global leader in the development of immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibodies to treat cancer. Evolved to treat parasitic infection, 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 epsilon constant region of IgE binds very tightly to its cognate receptor (FcεRI) on the surface of myeloid immune effector cells, including macrophages and monocytes, with such interaction being independent of antigen presence. IgE is also able to polarise macrophages to the anti-tumoural M1 phenotype, allows permeation of these cells into the tumour and is capable of killing tumour cells expressing low levels of target antigen. The enhanced functionality of IgE facilitates both tissue immunosurveillance and subsequent destruction of tumour cells. The company’s lead clinical candidate MOv18 IgE targets the folate receptor alpha (FR alpha) and has successfully completed a phase I trial in ovarian cancer. The antibody was found to be safe and well tolerated with early signs of clinical activity seen. MOv18 IgE is the world’s first IgE therapeutic to enter the clinic. Epsilogen is also developing IGEG™ platform technology based on combining the power of IgE and IgG antibody molecules.