Molecular Partners 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 15th 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 PEGS Europe 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 data 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 data 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’ website after the conference.
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 portfolio 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.
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