On March 07, 2016 Molecular Partners AG (ticker: MOLN), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that is developing a powerful new class of therapies known as DARPins, reported additional details about its immuno-oncology pipeline, including two early-stage multi-DARPin programs (Press release, Molecular Partners, MAR 7, 2016, View Source [SID:1234509389]). The first program targets the validated immune checkpoint PD-1 as well as VEGF-A, aiming to enhance PD-1 efficacy. The second program is designed to potently activate T-cells in the tumor without activating circulating T-cells, thus circumventing systemic toxicities.

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Christian Zahnd, Chief Executive Officer of Molecular Partners, will present additional details about these discovery programs at the 36th Annual Cowen Health Care Conference in Boston, Mass. on Wed., March 9 at 10:40 a.m. Eastern Time.

"The DARPin platform is ideally suited to develop highly differentiated immuno-oncology therapies with the potential to overcome the limitations of first-generation approaches," said Dr. Michael Stumpp, Chief Scientific Officer at Molecular Partners. "We are excited to contribute to the rapidly evolving field of immuno-oncology as we build our proprietary oncology pipeline. Our early-stage programs evaluate exciting new principles that were previously out of reach: enhanced immune checkpoint blockers and locally activated agonists."

Immuno-oncology is a revolutionary approach to anti-cancer treatment that redirects the body’s immune system to fight cancer cells. Investigators are studying many different ways to modulate immune checkpoints used by the body to regulate the immune system. While many of these clinical studies are yielding promising results, novel approaches are needed.