POINT Biopharma and Athebio Announce Partnership to Develop Designed Ankyrin Repeat Protein Targeted Radioligands
Enables the efficient expansion of surface targets for radioisotope delivery
INDIANAPOLIS and SCHLIEREN-ZURICH, Switzerland, Sept. 18, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — POINT Biopharma Global Inc. (NASDAQ: PNT) (the “Company” or “POINT”), a company accelerating the discovery, development, and global access to life-changing radiopharmaceuticals, and Athebio AG (“Athebio”), an innovation leader in the discovery and design of designed ankyrin repeat proteins (DARPins), today announced a collaboration and license agreement to develop and commercialize DARPin-targeted radioligands (“Radio-DARPins”).
DARPins are an attractive ligand class for cell-surface targets that could enable access to cell “surfaceome” targets beyond catalytic and ligand binding sites typically accessible to small molecules and peptides. DARPins combine the small molecule feature of rapid tumor penetration and clearance from the body, with the antibody-like ability of binding to a wider range of proteins and other cell surface targets. Their well-behaved and customizable formatting options, including stability at high concentrations and temperatures, are expected to facilitate rapid discovery, validation, and commercial scale manufacturing applicable to fast (212Pb) and slower (177Lu, 225Ac) decaying isotopes.
The collaboration gives POINT exclusive access to Athebio’s intellectual property and capabilities in DARPin development in the radioligand therapy field. Together, the parties will collaborate in discovery, candidate selection and preclinical development of Athebody® DARPins for use as Radio-DARPin drug entities. POINT will be solely responsible for the clinical development and commercialization of Radio-DARPins translated from the discovery collaboration.
“The holy grail of radioligand development is the ability to engineer ligands that can precisely deliver radiation and also have physical properties that are resistant to radiolytic damage, enabling them to be manufactured at scale,” said Joe McCann, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of POINT Biopharma. “DARPins represent a potential goldilocks opportunity in this regard, and could unlock new cell surface targets creating a new horizon for the development of novel targeted radioligand therapies. I am excited by this collaboration with Athebio, experts in DARPin technology, as it further expands our library of tools to engineer next-generation radioligands.”
“We are very excited to join forces with POINT. POINT is uniquely positioned in the radiotherapy field and just as committed as we are to unlock the full potential of Athebody® DARPins to develop radiopharmaceuticals for patients in need,” said Patrik Forrer, one of the inventors of the DARPin technology and CEO and Chairman of Athebio. “The exceptional properties of our Athebody® DARPins make them ideally suited for targeting radioisotopes. In particular their high stability should allow for simple conjugation to radioisotopes and their small size and high affinity binding with precise specificity should allow for superior targeting of tumors. The convergence of these attributes holds immense promise for pushing the boundaries of radiotherapy.”
Terms were not disclosed.
About POINT Biopharma
POINT Biopharma Global Inc. is a globally focused radiopharmaceutical company building a platform for the clinical development and commercialization of radioligands that fight cancer. POINT aims to transform precision oncology by combining a portfolio of targeted radioligand assets, a seasoned management team, an industry-leading pipeline, in-house manufacturing capabilities, and secured supply for medical isotopes including actinium-225 and lutetium-177. POINT’s active clinical trials include FRONTIER, a phase 1 trial for PNT2004, a pan-cancer program targeting fibroblast activation protein-α (FAP-α), and SPLASH, the phase 3 trial for PNT2002 for people with metastatic castration resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) after second-line hormonal treatment. Learn more about POINT Biopharma Global Inc. at https://www.pointbiopharma.com/.
About ATHEBIO AG
ATHEBIO enables its partners to develop superior targeted therapeutics of advanced efficacy and safety and thereby increased probability of clinical success. ATHEBIO’s proprietary “plug & play” Athebody® platform is based on clinically validated designed ankyrin repeat proteins (DARPins) and can unlock therapeutic options not easily accessible with current antibody technologies. Rather than building up its own pipeline, ATHEBIO licenses tailor-made Athebody®️ DARPins to its partners. ATHEBIO has brought the DARPin technology to the next level through the development of its proprietary Athebody®️ DARPin platform. These hyper-versatile binders can easily be plugged as building blocks into a broad range of existing drug modalities. Athebody®️ DARPins offer game-changing advantages for generating next-generation multi-functional therapeutics – including excellent target specificity and affinity, ease of generating multi-specificity, high stability, small size, reliable folding, species cross-reactivity, superb developability, and good freedom-to-operate prospects.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the following words: “may,” “will,” “could,” “would,” “should,” “expect,” “intend,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “project,” “potential,” “continue,” “ongoing” or the negative of these terms or other comparable terminology, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words. These statements involve risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to be materially different from the information expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Although we believe that we have a reasonable basis for each forward-looking statement contained in this press release, we caution you that these statements are based on a combination of facts and factors currently known by us and our projections of the future, about which we cannot be certain. Forward-looking statements in this press release include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the benefits of the recently completed business combination, as well as statements about the potential attributes and benefits of POINT’s product candidates and the format and timing of POINT’s product development activities and clinical trials. We cannot assure you that the forward-looking statements in this press release will prove to be accurate. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of significant risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expected results, including, among others, our ability to grow and manage our growth profitably and retain our key employees, the impact of COVID-19 on our business, the success, cost and timing of our product development activities and clinical trials, our ability to obtain and maintain regulatory approval for our product candidates, our ability to obtain funding for our operations, our the ability to maintain the listing of our common stock on the NASDAQ, changes in applicable laws or regulations, the possibility that POINT may be adversely affected by other economic, business, and/or competitive factors, and other risks and uncertainties, including those described in our Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on March 27, 2023. Many of these factors are outside of POINT’s control and are difficult to predict. Furthermore, if the forward-looking statements prove to be inaccurate, the inaccuracy may be material. In light of the significant uncertainties in these forward-looking statements, you should not regard these statements as a representation or warranty by us or any other person that we will achieve our objectives and plans in any specified time frame, or at all. The forward-looking statements in this press release represent our views as of the date of this press release. We anticipate that subsequent events and developments will cause our views to change. However, while we may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we have no current intention of doing so except to the extent required by applicable law. You should, therefore, not rely on these forward-looking statements as representing our views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.
Investor Relations Contact:
Daniel Pearlstein
Director, Strategy
investors@pointbiopharma.com
ATHEBIO Contact:
Christian Jost
VP Early Partnering
contact@athebio.com
