Biond Biologics Announces Oral Presentation for BND-67, an Inhibitor of CD28 Shedding, a Potential Novel Resistance Mechanism to Anti PD-1 Therapy, at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) 2022 Annual Meeting

MISGAV, Israel, March 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Biond Biologics Ltd.,  a private, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel immunotherapies for cancer and a platform enabling the intracellular delivery of biologics, announced today that the abstract on BND-67 was accepted for presentation at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting, taking place on April 8 - 13, 2022, in New Orleans, Louisiana. BND-67 is a nanobody-based agent that targets CD28 shedding - a novel immune-regulatory mechanism found in cancer patients that serves as a potential resistance mechanism to anti-PD-1 therapy.

Biond will give an oral presentation in the session of: "Experimental and Molecular Therapeutics -Elucidating Disease Biology and Drug Resistance Mechanisms". The presentation title is: "CD28 shedding is a novel resistance mechanism to anti PD-1 therapy", (Abstract #654) and it will be held on Sunday, Apr 10^th, 2022, at 3:00PM.

BND-67 Oral Presentation at 2022 AACR Annual Meeting

Anti-PD-1 drugs dominate the immunotherapy market for a decade now, yet resistance mechanisms to anti-PD-1 therapies remain poorly understood. There are indications that efficient anti-PD-1 therapies rely specifically on intact CD28/B7 signaling. Biond Biologics' research demonstrated an unknown mechanism for active shedding of membranal CD28 by specific Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), upon T cell stimulation in humans. Soluble CD28 produced by this shedding mechanism was shown to counteract the efficacy of anti-PD-1 blocking antibodies in-vitro. In the oral presentation to be given at the AACR, Biond will present data demonstrating CD28-shedding process as a potential resistance mechanism to PD-1 therapies and will describe BND-67, an agent that can selectively and efficiently block this novel regulatory mechanism in cancer patients.

In addition to Biond's BND-67 program, the company's Immuno-Oncology (I-O) pipeline also includes BND-35, an anti Ig-Like Transcript 3 (ILT3) antibody, an immune checkpoint inhibitor that inhibits the activity of suppressive myeloid cells. Biond's clinical I-O program, BND-22 (SAR444881), is an Ig-Like Transcript 2 (ILT2) receptor-blocking antibody that was partnered with Sanofi. BND-22 is in a phase 1 clinical trial in advanced cancer patients with select solid tumor types as monotherapy and in combination with Cetuximab and Pembrolizumab. Biond is also developing INspire, a transformative intracellular delivery platform for biologics, which will allow the targeting of well-known yet hard-to-target intracellular cancer-promoting pathways with biologics.

"The work that will be presented showcases the pioneering research conducted at Biond Biologics utilizing real-world patient and tumor samples, leading to the discovery of novel immune evasion and regulatory mechanisms", said Ilana Mandel, Ph.D., VP R&D at Biond Biologics.

"We're excited to share at the upcoming AACR annual meeting, this unique regulatory mechanism discovered at Biond, which can serve as a resistance mechanism to anti-PD-1 treatment.  We will also present ways to overcome this mechanism with BND-67, a proprietary nanobody that targets CD28 shedding in cancer patients", added Motti Hakim, Ph.D., Immuno-Oncology director at Biond Biologics.

About Biond Biologics

Biond Biologics is a clinical stage company focused on developing innovative therapies for novel oncology targets by uncovering immunoregulatory pathways and by enabling the intracellular delivery of biologics. Biond aims to translate high quality science and out-of-the-box disruptive thinking into transformational drugs for diseases with high unmet needs. The company's vision is to deliver innovative medicines to patients while fostering synergistic long-term collaborations with leading biopharmaceutical companies.

Biond's programs include BND-22 that was partnered with Sanofi, a multi-cell checkpoint inhibitor targeting ILT2, and BND-67, a novel agent developed for attenuating CD28 shedding, overcoming PD-1 blockade resistance; an immune evasion mechanism discovered by Biond's scientists. The company is also developing BND-35 – an ILT3 blocking antibody, that targets suppressive myeloid cells in the tumor microenvironment.

In addition to its pipeline of immunotherapy agents, Biond is developing INspire – an innovative technological platform that enables the intracellular delivery of protein therapeutics, such as antibodies, proteins or enzymes, into cells.

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy the securities described herein, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to the registration or qualification under the securities laws of any such jurisdiction.

Company contact:
Ori Shilo
CFO
Biond Biologics Ltd.
+972-4 884 4337
[email protected]

SOURCE Biond Biologics Ltd.