Molecular Partners to Present on DARPin Oncology Innovations at Protein & Antibody Engineering Summit Europe (PEGS)

• Presentation will highlight versatility of DARPin designs in enabling conditional activation of the immune system to fight tumors, addressing toxicities seen with other targeted modalities
  
  

• Review includes differentiated mechanisms of action including tumor-localized activation, avidity-driven selectivity and novel SWITCH-DARPin approach
  
  

ZURICH-SCHLIEREN, Switzerland and CONCORD, Mass., Nov. 14, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AG (SIX: MOLN; NASDAQ: MOLN), a clinical-stage biotech company developing a new class of custom-built protein drugs known as DARPin therapeutics, will present on several of its programs at the 15^th Annual Protein & Antibody Engineering European Summit (PEGS Europe), which runs November 14-16 in Lisbon, Portugal. The presentation will focus on the multiple ways Molecular Partners has designed DARPins to activate the immune system against cancer only under certain conditions. This conditional activation is intended to focus immune attack more specifically against tumor cells and minimize damage to healthy cells, a major challenge for current oncology drugs and development efforts.

The presentation consists of a review of several differentiated mechanisms of action that leverage the DARPin platform and conditional activation approaches/MoAs being advanced by Molecular Partners:

• MP0317, a CD40 agonist, is designed to activate immune cells specifically within the tumor microenvironment by anchoring to fibroblast activation protein (FAP), which is highly expressed on tumor cells. Positive from MP0317’s ongoing Phase 1 clinical study in patients with advanced solid tumors was recently presented at the 2023 Annual Meeting of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC).
• MP0533, a novel tetra-specific DARPin for the treatment of patients with relapsed/refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and myelodysplastic syndrome (AML/MDS), engages CD3 on T cells and targets three tumor-associated antigens (TAAs) CD33, CD123, and CD70. MP0533 preferentially binds with higher avidity to cells expressing at least two of these three TAAs. This proposed MoA focuses on T cell-mediated preferential killing of AML cells while potentially sparing healthy cells. MP0533 is currently in Phase 1/2a clinical development and initial will be presented at the 2023 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition.
• The SWITCH-DARPin platform, a versatile novel DARPin design for conditionally triggering an immune cell attack only in the presence of defined tumor antigens.
  
  

Details of the presentation can be found below. The presentation will be made available on Molecular Partners' after the conference.

Title: From Clustering Activated Agonists to SWITCH-DARPins

Presenter: Dr Daniel Steiner, Senior Vice President of Research, Molecular Partners

Agenda section: Engineering: Conditionally Activated Biologics

Timing: Tuesday November 14, 2023, 11:15am GMT

In addition to the conditionally activated DARPin designs referenced above, Molecular Partners continues to progress its Radio-DARPin Therapy (RDT) platform and portfolio of projects, both in-house and in partnership with Novartis. The of RDT candidates represent a unique delivery system for radioactive payloads to solid tumors and has significantly expanded the company’s work in oncology therapeutics.

About DARPin Therapeutics

DARPin therapeutics are a new class of custom-built protein therapeutics based on natural binding proteins that open a new dimension of multi-functionality and multi-target specificity in drug design. A single DARPin candidate can engage more than five targets, and its flexible architecture and small size offer benefits over other currently available protein therapeutics. DARPin therapeutics have been clinically validated through to registration via the development of abicipar, a DARPin drug candidate for ophthalmological indications. The DARPin platform is a fast and cost-effective drug discovery engine, producing drug candidates with optimized properties for development and very high production yields.

About Molecular Partners AG  

Molecular Partners AG is a clinical-stage biotech company developing DARPin (designed ankyrin repeat protein) therapeutics, a new class of custom-built protein drugs designed to address challenges current modalities cannot. The Company has formed partnerships with leading pharmaceutical companies to advance DARPin therapeutics in the areas of oncology and virology and has compounds in various stages of clinical and preclinical development across multiple therapeutic areas. . Find us on LinkedIn and X: .

For further details, please contact:

Seth Lewis, SVP Investor Relations & Strategy

Concord, Massachusetts, U.S.



Tel:

Laura Jeanbart, PhD, Head of Portfolio Management & Communications

Zurich-Schlieren, Switzerland



Tel: 5

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