Esperance links with MD Anderson Cancer Center to test EP-100

Closely-held US biotech firm Esperance Pharmaceuticals has entered into a strategic alliance agreement with MD Anderson Cancer Center to accelerate the clinical development of its lead anti-cancer candidate EP-100 for the treatment of ovarian cancer and to collaborate on preclinical studies of EP-100 as a treatment for breast cancer.

At the 2015 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting, the company reported positive results from a Phase II trial of EP-100 in ovarian cancer patients resistant to paclitaxel. EP-100 is a targeted membrane-disrupting peptide designed to seek and destroy cancer cells that overexpress luteinizing hormone releasing hormone (LHRH) receptors on their surfaces. LHRH receptors are over-expressed in a wide range of cancers including ovarian, breast, prostate, pancreatic and endometrial cancer.

As part of the strategic alliance, MD Anderson will conduct additional studies to help prepare for a Phase III trial of EP-100 in ovarian cancer, including more fully elucidating its mechanism of action and identifying potential biomarkers to support the selection of those patients most likely to respond to the drug. It also will collaborate with Esperance to conduct studies needed to initiate clinical trials of EP-100 in breast cancer and assess the anti-cancer potential of other drug candidates generated by Esperance's Cationic Lytic Peptide (CLYP) platform technology. Further details of the agreement were not disclosed.