ROCKVILLE, MD, USA I April 20, 2015 I MacroGenics, Inc. (MGNX), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing innovative monoclonal antibody-based therapeutics for the treatment of cancer, as well as autoimmune disorders and infectious diseases, today announced the presentation of pre-clinical data for Dual-Affinity Re-Targeting (DART(R)) molecules that target DR5 at the 2015 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, PA. In addition, MacroGenics’ collaboration partner, Pfizer Inc., presented pre-clinical data on a DART molecule that simultaneously targets P-cadherin and CD3.
MacroGenics presented a poster titled: “DART(R) molecules with enhanced DR5 agonistic activity for improved cancer cell cytotoxicity.” In this poster, application of MacroGenics’ DART platform is shown to drive clustering of DR5 on cancer cells resulting in potent anti-tumor activity, including activity in models of cancer stem cells.
DR5, or Death Receptor 5, member 10b of the tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily, is a protein overexpressed in many kinds of tumors, including colorectal, lung, pancreatic, breast and prostate. Ligation of DR5 with its cognate ligand TRAIL or agonistic monoclonal antibodies elicits a pro-apoptotic signal on cancer cells, leading to programmed cell death. DR5 monoclonal antibodies selected from MacroGenics’ discovery platform based on favorable normal/tumor binding properties were incorporated into multivalent DARTs. The efficacy of the DR5 DART molecules in mediating cancer cell cytotoxicity is 10-100 fold enhanced compared to that of TRAIL and previously described agonistic DR5-targeted monoclonal antibodies. Based on their enhanced potency and selectivity, DR5-targeting DARTs represent a new class of therapeutics that may overcome limitations of existing DR5-targeted therapeutics. The pre-clinical data support the use of DR5-engaging DARTs to exploit this apoptotic pathway in multiple cancer types.
“This pre-clinical data highlights the versatility of MacroGenics’ DART technology,” said Dr. Scott Koenig, M.D., Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of MacroGenics. “Multivalent targeting further expands the range of potential therapeutic interventions that can be deployed through the Company’s robust DART platform.”
In addition, MacroGenics’ collaboration partner, Pfizer, presented a poster titled “Bispecific redirected T-cell immunotherapy targeting P-cadherin expressing tumors.” Pfizer will also present a second poster related to this molecule at the AACR 2015 Annual Meeting on Wednesday, April 22, 2015 from 8:00 am — 12:00 pm Eastern Time, titled “Bio-distribution and tumor targeting of a P-cadherin x CD3 bi-specific redirected T-cell molecule using fluorescence molecular tomography imaging.”
About MacroGenics, Inc.
MacroGenics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing innovative monoclonal antibody-based therapeutics for the treatment of cancer, as well as autoimmune disorders and infectious diseases. The company generates its pipeline of product candidates from its proprietary suite of next-generation antibody-based technology platforms. The combination of MacroGenics’ technology platforms and protein engineering expertise has allowed the Company to generate promising product candidates and enter into several strategic collaborations with global pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. For more information, please see the Company’s website at www.macrogenics.com. MacroGenics is a registered trademark of MacroGenics, Inc.
SOURCE: Macrogenics
Post Views: 210
ROCKVILLE, MD, USA I April 20, 2015 I MacroGenics, Inc. (MGNX), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing innovative monoclonal antibody-based therapeutics for the treatment of cancer, as well as autoimmune disorders and infectious diseases, today announced the presentation of pre-clinical data for Dual-Affinity Re-Targeting (DART(R)) molecules that target DR5 at the 2015 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, PA. In addition, MacroGenics’ collaboration partner, Pfizer Inc., presented pre-clinical data on a DART molecule that simultaneously targets P-cadherin and CD3.
MacroGenics presented a poster titled: “DART(R) molecules with enhanced DR5 agonistic activity for improved cancer cell cytotoxicity.” In this poster, application of MacroGenics’ DART platform is shown to drive clustering of DR5 on cancer cells resulting in potent anti-tumor activity, including activity in models of cancer stem cells.
DR5, or Death Receptor 5, member 10b of the tumor necrosis factor receptor superfamily, is a protein overexpressed in many kinds of tumors, including colorectal, lung, pancreatic, breast and prostate. Ligation of DR5 with its cognate ligand TRAIL or agonistic monoclonal antibodies elicits a pro-apoptotic signal on cancer cells, leading to programmed cell death. DR5 monoclonal antibodies selected from MacroGenics’ discovery platform based on favorable normal/tumor binding properties were incorporated into multivalent DARTs. The efficacy of the DR5 DART molecules in mediating cancer cell cytotoxicity is 10-100 fold enhanced compared to that of TRAIL and previously described agonistic DR5-targeted monoclonal antibodies. Based on their enhanced potency and selectivity, DR5-targeting DARTs represent a new class of therapeutics that may overcome limitations of existing DR5-targeted therapeutics. The pre-clinical data support the use of DR5-engaging DARTs to exploit this apoptotic pathway in multiple cancer types.
“This pre-clinical data highlights the versatility of MacroGenics’ DART technology,” said Dr. Scott Koenig, M.D., Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of MacroGenics. “Multivalent targeting further expands the range of potential therapeutic interventions that can be deployed through the Company’s robust DART platform.”
In addition, MacroGenics’ collaboration partner, Pfizer, presented a poster titled “Bispecific redirected T-cell immunotherapy targeting P-cadherin expressing tumors.” Pfizer will also present a second poster related to this molecule at the AACR 2015 Annual Meeting on Wednesday, April 22, 2015 from 8:00 am — 12:00 pm Eastern Time, titled “Bio-distribution and tumor targeting of a P-cadherin x CD3 bi-specific redirected T-cell molecule using fluorescence molecular tomography imaging.”
About MacroGenics, Inc.
MacroGenics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing innovative monoclonal antibody-based therapeutics for the treatment of cancer, as well as autoimmune disorders and infectious diseases. The company generates its pipeline of product candidates from its proprietary suite of next-generation antibody-based technology platforms. The combination of MacroGenics’ technology platforms and protein engineering expertise has allowed the Company to generate promising product candidates and enter into several strategic collaborations with global pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. For more information, please see the Company’s website at www.macrogenics.com. MacroGenics is a registered trademark of MacroGenics, Inc.
SOURCE: Macrogenics
Post Views: 210
