Bright Peak Therapeutics Announces Multiple Presentations at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting

--Oral Presentation to highlight the creation of next-generation biologics using a novel chemistry platform technology?

--Poster presentation describing the cis-activation of PD-1+ effector T cells with dual-targeting immunocytokines generated using a novel chemical conjugation platform?

--Poster presentation to demonstrate the power of our novel chemical protein synthesis technology by engineering a pleiotropic native cytokine into an optimized cancer therapeutic?

SAN DIEGO and BASEL, Switzerland, April 04, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bright Peak Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing next-generation cytokine immunotherapies to treat cancer and autoimmune disease, today announced the acceptance of one oral presentation and two poster presentations at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting taking place April 8-13, 2022, in New Orleans, Louisiana.

"We're thrilled to present details on the broad applications of Bright Peak's innovative chemical protein synthesis and conjugation technology at AACR 2022," said Fredrik Wiklund, President and CEO. "This is the first time we are showcasing our novel platform at such an important scientific meeting, and we look forward to contributing to the advancement of immunomodulatory cancer agents and interventions through our highly differentiated approach."    

Details of the abstracts and presentations are as follows:

Oral Presentation:  Creating next-generation biologics using a novel chemistry platform technology
Minisymposium MS.CH01.01: Drug Design and Lead Optimization Strategies Toward Novel or Difficult-to-Drug Cancer Targets
Date and Time: April 11, 2022, 3:50 ? 4:05 PM (CDT)

Title:  Cis-activation of PD-1+ effector T cells with dual-targeting immunocytokines generated using a novel chemical conjugation platform
Session Title: Immunomodulatory Agents and Interventions 3
Date and Time:  April 13, 2022, 9:00 AM - 12:30 PM (CDT)
Abstract Number: 4223, Section 38

Abstract Highlights: Bright Peak has developed a cell-free chemical protein synthesis and conjugation platform to rapidly generate optimized antibody-cytokine (immunocytokine) therapeutics within weeks. The Bright Peak immunocytokine platform features flexible "plug and play" technology whereby our enhanced cytokine payloads are chemically conjugated to existing antibodies obtained "off the shelf". Bright Peak generates enhanced and conjugatable cytokine payloads using a novel protein engineering platform based on solid-phase peptide synthesis and subsequent chemical ligation of protein segments and protein folding. Our cytokine payloads are designed with optimized properties and conjugation handles during chemical synthesis and are then readily chemically conjugated to specific lysine residues in the Fc region of an existing IgG1, IgG2 or IgG4 antibody without the need for prior antibody engineering.

We are initially focusing on the development of PD-1-targeted immunocytokines (ICs) that dual-target PD-1+ effector T cells (cis-signaling) to achieve potent and selective activation of tumor antigen-experienced effector T cells. Resulting PD-1/IL-2 ICs are highly active showing significantly enhanced potency due to avidity resulting from binding of the cytokine payload to PD-1+ effector T cells in cis. Our PD-1/IL-2 ICs induce strong pharmacodynamic effects in vivo, and we are currently optimizing the pharmacological profiles of PD-1-targeted immunocytokines for clinical application.

Title:  BPT-143: A fully synthetic alpha-dead IL-2 with a best-in-class preclinical pharmacodynamic and efficacy profile supporting first-in-human clinical development 
Session Title: Immunomodulatory Agents and Interventions 3
Date and Time:  April 13, 2022, 9:00 AM - 12:30 PM (CDT)
Abstract Number: 4224, Section 38

Abstract Highlights: As a proof of concept for our chemical protein synthesis platform, we set out to engineer a variant of human IL-2 that solves the major limitations of immuno-oncology therapeutics based on wildtype IL-2 (e.g, aldesleukin). Using our chemical protein synthesis technology, we rationally designed an enhanced cytokine payload with select modified amino acids to introduce site-specific chemical conjugation handles and specific sequence variations to optimize the biological properties of IL-2 for cancer therapy while maintaining high homology to the wildtype IL-2 sequence. Bright Peak's enhanced cytokine payload is engineered for increased binding to CD122/IL2R? and does not interact with CD25/IL2R? to improve safety and prevent the preferential activation of Tregs compared to CD8+ T effector cells. The fully synthetic cytokine payload can then be conjugated to a 30 kDa PEG for optimal pharmacokinetic properties or to a monoclonal antibody to create a novel Bright Peak immunocytokine.

We successfully manufactured our full-length, folded and PEGylated protein (BPT-143) under GMP conditions to amounts sufficient for clinical development. BPT-143 demonstrates the power of our synthetic protein synthesis platform to engineer pleiotropic native cytokines into optimized therapeutics and are exploiting our technology to develop a pipeline of novel designer cytokines and multi-modal immune therapies.

The abstracts can be accessed through the AACR meeting planner and are available for viewing online here:

https://www.abstractsonline.com/pp8/#!/10517/presentation/13210

https://www.abstractsonline.com/pp8/#!/10517/presentation/17093

https://www.abstractsonline.com/pp8/#!/10517/presentation/17115

About Bright Peak Therapeutics
Bright Peak is a privately held biotechnology company based in Basel, Switzerland and San Diego, USA. We use our unique ability to chemically synthesized natively folded proteins to create a portfolio of designer immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases. Our pipeline stretches from discovery to IND-enabling and encompasses half-life extended cytokines, antibody-cytokine conjugates and other novel formats. Bright Peak is funded by a syndicate of leading healthcare investors.

Contact: 
[email protected]