Merus and the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB) Barcelona Form Research Collaboration to Develop Bispecific Antibodies Targeting the Tumor Microenvironment
(Thomson Reuters ONE) -
UTRECHT, The Netherlands, Jan. 05, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Merus N.V.
(NASDAQ:MRUS), a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company developing innovative
bispecific antibody therapeutics, and the Institute for Research in Biomedicine
(IRB) Barcelona, a research center devoted to understanding fundamental
questions about human health and disease, today announced entry into a research
collaboration to jointly develop novel agents that target the tumor
microenvironment.
The research collaboration will combine Merus' Biclonics technology platform for
the discovery and development of therapeutic bispecific antibodies and IRB's
unique cell and animal models to evaluate therapeutic targeting of stromal cells
that support tumor growth and metastasis.
"This new research collaboration builds on the successful working relationship
established in the suppresSTEM consortium that resulted in MCLA-158, a Biclonics
targeting EGFR and Lgr5 that is currently in IND-enabling studies," said Mark
Throsby, Chief Scientific Officer of Merus. "We anticipate that accessing IRB's
insights and tools to investigate the tumor stromal environment will support the
discovery and validation of Biclonics that block the initiation and progression
of metastatic cancer."
"Merus' Biclonics technology represents a promising platform to develop
bispecific antibodies to specifically target the tumor stroma," says Eduardo
Battle, Professor and Group Leader at IRB. "We are optimistic that this
partnership will streamline the generation of differentiated therapeutics to
treat patients with difficult-to-treat cancer subtypes."
About IRB Barcelona
IRB Barcelona is a research center devoted to understanding fundamental
questions about human health and disease. It was founded in October 2005 by the
Government of Catalonia and the University of Barcelona, and is located at the
Barcelona Science Park.
About Merus N.V.
Merus is a clinical-stage immuno-oncology company developing innovative full
length human bispecific antibody therapeutics, referred to as Biclonics®.
Biclonics® are based on the full-length IgG format, are manufactured using
industry standard processes and have been observed in preclinical studies to
have several of the same features of conventional monoclonal antibodies, such as
long half-life and low immunogenicity. Merus' lead bispecific antibody
candidate, MCLA-128, is being evaluated in a Phase 1/2 clinical trial in Europe
as a potential treatment for HER2-expressing solid tumors. Merus' second
bispecific antibody candidate, MCLA-117, is being developed in a Phase 1/ 2
clinical trial in patients with acute myeloid leukemia. The Company also has a
pipeline of proprietary bispecific antibody candidates in preclinical
development, including MCLA-158, which is designed to bind to cancer stem cells
and is being developed as a potential treatment for colorectal cancer and other
solid tumors, and Biclonics® designed to bind to various combinations of
immunomodulatory molecules, including PD-1 and PD-L1.
Forward Looking Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements contained in
this press release that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be
considered forward-looking statements, including without limitation statements
regarding the strength of our intellectual property estate, the sufficiency of
our protection of our intellectual property estate, including when such
protection will terminate, the broad applicability of Biclonic® bispecific
antibodies to cancer and other medical conditions, and the treatment potential
of our bispecific antibody candidates.
These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations.
These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but involve known and
unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our
actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any
future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-
looking statements, including, but not limited to, the following: we have
incurred significant losses, are not currently profitable and may never become
profitable; our need for additional funding, which may not be available and
which may require us to restrict out operations or require us to relinquish
rights to our technologies or bispecific antibody candidates; potential delays
in regulatory approval, which would impact the ability to commercialize our
product candidates and affect our ability to generate revenue; the unproven
approach to therapeutic intervention of our Biclonics® technology; potential
difficulties in validating and developing companion diagnostics, which could
harm our development strategy; our limited operating history; economic,
political, regulatory and other risks involved with international operations;
exchange rate fluctuations or abandonment of the euro currency; the lengthy and
expensive process of clinical drug development, which has an uncertain outcome;
the unpredictable nature of our early stage development efforts for marketable
drugs; potential adverse public reaction to the use of cancer immunotherapies;
potential delays in enrollment of patients, which could affect the receipt of
necessary regulatory approvals; our potential exposure to costly and damaging
liability claims; post-marketing restrictions or withdrawal from the market;
failure to obtain marketing approval internationally; compliance with
environmental, health, and safety laws and regulations; anti-kickback, fraud,
abuse, and other healthcare laws and regulations exposing us to potential
criminal sanctions; recently enacted or future legislation; failure to compete
successfully against other drug companies; potential competition from other drug
companies if we fail to obtain orphan drug designation or maintain orphan drug
exclusivity for our products; the possibility that governmental authorities and
health insurers may not establish adequate reimbursement levels and pricing
policies to support our products; the potential failure of our product
candidates to be accepted on the market by the medical community; our lack of
experience selling, marketing and distributing products and our lack of internal
capability to do so; potential competition from biosimilars; our reliance on
third parties to conduct our clinical trials and the potential for those third
parties to not perform satisfactorily; our reliance on third parties to
manufacture our product candidates, which may delay, prevent or impair our
development and commercialization efforts; protection of our proprietary
technology; our patents being found invalid or unenforceable; potential lawsuits
for infringement of third-party intellectual property; adequate protection of
our trademarks; our potential failure to obtain extensions of the terms of
patents covering our products; potential difficulties protecting our
intellectual property rights in certain jurisdictions; changes in United States
patent law; protection of the confidentiality of our trade secrets; claims
asserting that we or our employees misappropriated a third-party's intellectual
property or otherwise claiming ownership of what we regard as our intellectual
property; compliance with patent regulations; potential system failures; our
ability to attract and retain key personnel; managing our growth could result in
difficulties; the price of our common stock may fluctuate substantially; certain
of our shareholders and members of our management board own a majority of our
outstanding shares and exercise significant control over us; a significant
portion of our total outstanding shares are eligible to be sold into the market;
provisions of our Articles of Association or Dutch corporate law might deter
favorable acquisition bids for us or prevent a beneficial change of control; we
may lose our foreign private issuer status and incur significant expenses as a
result; and unfavorable or lacking analyst research or reports might cause the
price of our common shares to decline.
These and other important factors discussed under the caption "Risk Factors" in
our final prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC,
on May 20, 2016 relating to our Registration Statement on Form F-1, and our
other reports filed with the SEC could cause actual results to differ materially
from those indicated by the forward-looking statements made in this press
release. Any such forward-looking statements represent management's estimates as
of the date of this press release. While we may elect to update such forward-
looking statements at some point in the future, we disclaim any obligation to do
so, even if subsequent events cause our views to change. These forward-looking
statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any date
subsequent to the date of this press release.
Contacts:
Merus N.V.
Shelley Margetson - s.margetson(at)merus.nl
+31 (0)30 253 8800
Argot Partners
Kimberly Minarovich - kimberly(at)argotpartners.com
1-212-600-1902
This announcement is distributed by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions on behalf of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions clients.
The issuer of this announcement warrants that they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.
Source: Merus N.V. via GlobeNewswire
Unternehmensinformation / Kurzprofil:
Datum: 05.01.2017 - 13:55 Uhr
Sprache: Deutsch
News-ID 516052
Anzahl Zeichen: 10415
contact information:
Town:
Utrecht
Kategorie:
Business News
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