Molecular Partners AG

ROOT, Switzerland--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Novocure (NASDAQ: NVCR) today announced the appointment of Nicolas Leupin, M.D., Ph.D., MBA to the role of Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Leupin brings a proven track record of leadership and accomplishment in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, as well as extensive experience as a medical oncologist and educator. At Novocure, Dr. Leupin will oversee medical affairs, medical safety, and clinical development operations as the company advances its clinical pipeline and prepares to treat an expanded patient population. “It is a pleasure to welcome Dr. Leupin to Novocure as our new Chief Medical Officer,” said Asaf Danziger, Novocure’s Chief Executive Officer. “Nicolas brings a wealth of knowledge and experience from some of the most innovative oncology companies in the world, as well as a dedication to patients that is core to Novocure’s mission. I am confident that his expertise will be instrumental as Novocure enters its next chapter, treating patients with aggressive tumors of the brain, torso and abdomen.” “I am thrilled to join Novocure’s executive leadership team and contribute to the innovation and expansion of this novel modality, Tumor Treating Fields therapy,” said Dr. Leupin. “2024 is a critical year for Novocure with multiple opportunities on the horizon and I am excited to be joining a company with such strong capabilities and aspirations to materially advance patient care.” Before joining Novocure, Dr. Leupin served as the Chief Medical Officer at Molecular Partners, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, where he led the development of multiple designed ankyrin repeat protein therapeutics. Prior to his time at Molecular Partners, Dr. Leupin served as the Chief Medical Officer at Argenx, a leader in the development of therapeutic antibodies, and was instrumental in the development of Vyvgart and other compounds. Before moving into executive leadership, Dr. Leupin held a number of clinical development leadership roles at Celgene in the myeloma and lymphoma programs. Dr. Leupin earned his M.D. at the University of Bern, his Ph.D. from the UBFC-Université in France, and an MBA from Jones International University in the U.S. Dr. Leupin is a board certified medical oncologist with a specialty in hematological oncology. He has co-authored high-impact papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals, and is dedicated to educating the generation of oncologists through his continuing work as a lecturer of Tumor Biology at the University of Bern. Dr. Leupin will assume the clinical and medical responsibilities held by Pritesh Shah, Novocure’s former Chief Growth Officer. As previously announced, Mr. Shah resigned his position as an executive officer effective January 1, 2024 and has agreed to become a Senior Advisor to the Chief Executive Officer in a non-executive capacity. “I would like to thank Pritesh for his dedication and leadership over the 12 years,” said Asaf Danziger. “Pritesh has been at Novocure since the beginning of our commercial business and helped shape and build our business from scratch. I am very grateful to Pritesh and wish him a lifetime of happiness.” About Novocure Novocure is a global oncology company working to extend survival in some of the most aggressive forms of cancer through the development and commercialization of its innovative therapy, Tumor Treating Fields. Novocure’s commercialized products are approved in certain countries for the treatment of adult patients with glioblastoma, malignant pleural mesothelioma and pleural mesothelioma. Novocure has ongoing or completed clinical trials investigating Tumor Treating Fields in brain metastases, gastric cancer, glioblastoma, liver cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, pancreatic cancer and ovarian cancer. Headquartered in Root, Switzerland and with a growing global footprint, Novocure has regional operating centers in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and Tokyo, as well as a research center in Haifa, Israel. For additional information about the company, please visit Novocure.com and follow @Novocure on LinkedIn and Twitter. Forward-Looking Statements In addition to historical facts or statements of current condition, this press release may contain forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements provide Novocure’s current expectations or forecasts of future events. These may include statements regarding anticipated scientific progress on its research programs, clinical study progress, development of potential products, interpretation of clinical results, prospects for regulatory approval, manufacturing development and capabilities, market prospects for its products, coverage, collections from third-party payers and other statements regarding matters that are not historical facts. You may identify some of these forward-looking statements by the use of words in the statements such as “anticipate,” “estimate,” “expect,” “project,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe” or other words and terms of similar meaning. Novocure’s performance and financial results could differ materially from those reflected in these forward-looking statements due to general financial, economic, environmental, regulatory and political conditions as well as issues arising from the COVID-19 pandemic and other more specific risks and uncertainties facing Novocure such as those set forth in its Annual Report on Form 10-K filed on February 23, 2023, and subsequent filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Given these risks and uncertainties, any or all of these forward-looking statements may prove to be incorrect. Therefore, you should not rely on any such factors or forward-looking statements. Furthermore, Novocure does not intend to update publicly any forward-looking statement, except as required by law. Any forward-looking statements herein speak only as of the date hereof. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 permits this discussion. View source version on businesswire.com: Contacts Investors & Media: Ingrid Goldberg 610-723-7427 investorinfo@novocure.com media@novocure.com Source: Novocure View this news release online at:

European life sciences investment firm Medicxi on Thursday said it raised $400 million, becoming the latest biotech-focused venture firm to boost its capital reserves so far this year.The firm will use the new funds to continue investing in “asset-centric“ biotechs, or companies focused on one or two experimental medicines rather than broad drugmaking platforms. This is its fourth fund.One of the largest firms of its kind in Europe, Medicxi announced its new fund after several of its portfolio companies were acquired. Over the past year, skin drug developer Villaris Therapeutics was bought by Incyte, autoimmune startup MiroBio sold to Gilead and obesity drug startup Versanis Bio was picked up by Eli Lilly.Those acquisitions provided the firm with a fast return on its investments. For instance, Medicxi joined with Atlas Venture and Aditum Bio to invest $70 million into Versanis in 2021. The biotech was sold to Lilly less than two years later in a deal that could be worth as much as $1.9 billion. Both MiroBio and Villaris were formed in 2019 and acquired in 2023.This new fund consolidates Medicxis position as a key operating platform for scientific entrepreneurs and drug hunters and is deliberately sized for our investment model, Francesco De Rubertis, Medicxis co-founder, said in a statement.Previously known as Medicxi Ventures, the firm launched out of Index Ventures in 2016 with backing from GSK and Johnson & Johnson.Its portfolio includes a number of public companies, such as Centessa Pharmaceuticals, Molecular Partners and Minerva Biosciences. Others, such as Genmab and Phathom Pharmaceuticals, have successfully developed marketed medicines.Medicxi joins other biotech investors, such as Westlake Village Biopartners and SR One, in closing new funds this year. New firms, such as Dimension and Cure Ventures, have also raked in hundreds of millions of dollars to support young biotech companies.Overall, venture firms raised approximately $163 billion in 2022, and invested nearly $31 billion into biotech and pharma companies last year, according to the National Venture Capital Association. '

MP0317 demonstrates tumor-localized CD40 activation in tumor biopsies through target occupancy and immune cell activation MP0317 demonstrates a favorable safety profile across Q3W and Q1W regimens, including the highest dose tested, 10mg/kg (Q3W) Present data support planning of future combination studies with potential partners ZURICH-SCHLIEREN, Switzerland and CONCORD, MA, USA I May 25, 2023 I 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 additional positive data from the ongoing Phase 1 study of MP0317, a CD40 agonist designed to activate immune cells specifically within the tumor microenvironment by anchoring to fibroblast activation protein (FAP), at the 2023 ASCO (American Society of Clinical Oncology) Annual Meeting, held June 2–6 in Chicago, Illinois. The data demonstrate that MP0317 shows evidence of tumor-localized CD40 activation (analyses in paired tumor biopsies). The detection of MP0317 in tumors positively correlated with immune activation when comparing high vs. low doses of MP0317. This detection was associated with a statistically significant CD40-mediated increase of antigen-presenting cells and interferon γ signature. Furthermore, MP0317 has demonstrated a favorable safety profile. The current data support planning of future combination studies. “These positive data continue to demonstrate that MP0317’s unique mechanism of action has the potential to overcome the limitations of existing therapies that target CD40 by activating only in the tumor microenvironment and therefore avoid systemic toxicities seen by other treatments,” said Nicolas Leupin, MD, Ph.D., Chief Medical Officer of Molecular Partners. “MP0317 encapsulates the advantages we believe we can achieve through our DARPin platform: to design candidates to overcome biological challenges that other drug classes like antibodies cannot address. These data of the ongoing study will further support the advancement of MP0317 into later-stage clinical research with partners and highlight the potential of MP0317 for evaluation in combination settings.” “Clinical data from 36 patients with advanced solid tumors, dosed across 8 dose levels, confirms that the tumor-FAP-targeted CD40 agonist MP0317 is safe and well tolerated with limited systemic inflammation compared to other CD40 agonists,” said Dr Carlos Gomez-Roca, Head of the Early Phase & Clinical Research Unit at IUCT-Oncopole Claudius Regaud at Toulouse, France, and investigator on the study. “The analysis of paired pre- and on treatment tumor biopsies as well as peripheral biomarkers provides evidence of target occupancy and pharmacodynamic modulation in the tumor microenvironment, consistent with tumor localised CD40 activation. The current data enables further evaluation of MP0317 in combination.” This ongoing first-in-human Phase 1, open-label, dose-escalation study assesses the safety and tolerability as well as pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics and antitumor activity of MP0317 monotherapy in patients with refractory/relapsed solid tumors known to express FAP and CD40 (NCT05098405 ) . To date, the 36 patients enrolled in the Netherlands and France across eight dosing cohorts received MP0317 at doses of 0.03–10 mg/kg in every-3-weeks [q3w] and weekly [q1w] schedules (data cut-off 02 May 2023). MP0317 monotherapy was seen to result in tumor-localized CD40 activation: biomarker data confirmed presence of MP0317 in the tumors of patients with evaluable pre- and on-treatment biopsies as of the cutoff date. This detection of MP0317 in tumors positively correlates when comparing high vs. low doses of MP0317 and was associated with a statistically significant CD40-mediated increase of antigen-presenting cells as well as interferon γ production within the tumor microenvironment. To date, one patient achieved an unconfirmed partial response and stable disease was observed in 5 additional patients. The observed safety profile of MP0317 monotherapy to date is favorable. A dose-limiting toxicity was reported in one patient (transient asymptomatic Grade 3 elevation of liver enzymes), at the highest planned MP0317 dose of 10 mg/kg administered q3w. The positive results of this ongoing Phase 1 study in patients with refractory/relapsed tumors support continued clinical evaluation of MP0317 and potential investigation in combination studies. The study continues to enroll one more cohort (q1w). For further information please see clinicaltrials.gov (NCT05098405). The details of the poster presenting these results from the ongoing Phase 1 study at the ASCO 2023 Annual Meeting can be found below. The poster will be made available on Molecular Partners' website after the presentation. Title: Phase I study of MP0317, a FAP-dependent DARPin, for tumor-localized CD40 activation in patients with advanced solid tumors Poster Session: Developmental Therapeutics—Immunotherapy Abstract number: 2584 Poster number: 426 Location & Timing: Hall A; June 3, 2023; 8:00–11:00am CDT Authors & Affiliations: C Gomez-Roca 1 , N Steeghs 2 , E Gort 3 , H De Winter 4 , E Fernandez 4 , V Stavropoulou 4 , N Stojcheva 4 , P Baverel 4 , J Krieg 4 , K Ioannou 4 , A Florescu 4 , P Mossi 4 , L Hoenig 4 , B Baud-Berthier 4 , V Kirkin 4 , A Goubier 4 , P Legenne 4 , P Cassier 5 About MP0317 MP0317 targets both the FAP and the immunostimulatory protein CD40 to enable tumor-localized immune activation. Through this proposed mechanism of action, MP0317 is designed to activate immune cells specifically within the tumor microenvironment, potentially delivering greater efficacy with fewer side effects compared to systemic CD40-targeting therapies. About Molecular Partners AG Molecular Partners AG is a clinical-stage biotech company developing DARPin (designed ankyrin repeat protein) therapeutics, a new class of custom-built protein drugs designed to address challenges current modalities cannot. The Company has formed partnerships with leading pharmaceutical companies to advance DARPin therapeutics in the areas of oncology and virology and has compounds in various stages of clinical and preclinical development across multiple therapeutic areas. www.molecularpartners.com ; Find us on Twitter - @MolecularPrtnrs 1 Institut Claudius Regaud, IUCT-Oncopole, Toulouse, France 2 The Netherlands Cancer Institute, Amsterdam, the Netherlands 3 UMC Utrecht, Utrecht, the Netherlands 4 Molecular Partners AG, Schlieren-Zurich, Switzerland; 5 Centre Léon Bérard, Lyon, France SOURCE: Molecular Partners