Oncopeptides presents new scientific data at the Annual American Society of Hematology Meeting ASH

STOCKHOLM, Dec. 12, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Oncopeptides AB (publ) (Nasdaq Stockholm: ONCO), a biotech company focused on research and development of therapies for difficult-to-treat hematological diseases, today announces that the company presents new scientific data including one clinical abstract and three preclinical research posters at the Annual American Society of Hematology Meeting, ASH, in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, on December 10-13. The clinical abstract evaluated patients with multiple myeloma who were refractory to prior alkylators in the phase 3 OCEAN study. Data shows that melflufen is a safe and effective therapy in patients who are alkylator refractory, regardless of whether they received a prior autologous stem cell transplant or not.

The preclinical posters are based on the Company's proprietary technology platforms for Peptide Drug Conjugate, PDC, and for NK-cell engagers, "Small Polypeptide based Killer Engagers", SPiKE and have been materialized through partnerships with leading research institutions in Finland, Norway, and Sweden.

"We are very pleased to present preclinical data for OPDC3, next generation drug candidate from our PDC-platform, which has demonstrated significant activity in various hematological malignancies," says Klaas Bakker, MD, PhD, Head of R&D and Chief Medical Officer. "Notably, for the first time we are also able to present preclinical data from our affibody-based NK-cell engager, that has strong potential to selectively activate NK-cells in multiple myeloma and other potential hematological malignancies."

Below is a brief description of the abstracts that have been accepted by the American Society of Hematology. The abstracts are available at:
https://ash.confex.com/ash/2022/webprogram/

For more information, please contact:

Rolf Gulliksen, Global Head of Corporate Communications, Oncopeptides AB (publ)
E-mail: rolf.gulliksen@oncopeptides.com
Cell phone: + 46 70 262 96 28 

About Oncopeptides

Oncopeptides is a global biotech company focused on research and development of therapies for difficult-to-treat hematological diseases. The company uses its proprietary Peptide Drug Candidate platform, PDC, to develop compounds that rapidly and selectively deliver cytotoxic agents into cancer cells. 

Pepaxti^® (melphalan flufenamide, also called melflufen) has been granted Marketing Authorization, in the European Union, the EEA-countries Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway, as well as the UK. Pepaxti is indicated in combination with dexamethasone for the treatment of adult patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least three prior lines of therapies, whose disease is refractory to at least one proteasome inhibitor, one immunomodulatory agent, and one anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody, and who have demonstrated disease progression on or after the last therapy. For patients with a prior autologous stem cell transplantation, the time to progression should be at least 3 years from transplantation. Melflufen has been granted accelerated approval in the US under the trade name Pepaxto^®. The drug is currently not marketed in the US. On December 7, 2022, the FDA recommended that the Company voluntarily withdraw the US marketing authorization for Pepaxto.

Oncopeptides is developing several new compounds based on its proprietary technology platforms. The company is listed in the Mid Cap segment on Nasdaq Stockholm with the ticker ONCO. More information is available on www.oncopeptides.com. 

About melflufen 

Melflufen (melphalan flufenamide) is a lipophilic peptide conjugated alkylating drug that rapidly and selectively delivers cytotoxic agents into tumor cells. The drug is composed of a di-peptide and an alkylating moiety. The lipophilicity allows a faster cellular uptake whereas the peptide hydrolysis mediated by aminopeptidases, results in accumulation of alkylating moieties in cancer cells. This results in an improved efficacy without an increased toxicity compared to melphalan. Melflufen inhibits proliferation and induces apoptosis of hematopoietic and solid tumor cells. The drug shows synergistic cytotoxicity in combination with dexamethasone in melphalan resistant and non-resistant multiple myeloma cell lines.  

The following files are available for download: