Pieris Pharmaceuticals and The University of Melbourne Receive Research Grant to Advance Immunological Diseases Program

FREISING, GERMANY and MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA--(Marketwired - March 30, 2015) - Pieris Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (OTCQB: PIRS) and The University of Melbourne today announced the receipt by the University of a research grant to further develop Pieris' novel protein Anticalin^®-brand therapeutic, PRS-060, in immunological diseases. The grant -- which will support Pieris' Australian subsidiary, Pieris Australia, and is disbursed by Australia's peak medical research funding body, the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) -- totals more than $AUS 500,000 and covers activities to advance PRS-060 for inhaled delivery to treat asthmatics.

Pieris president and chief executive officer, Stephen Yoder, commented, "Pieris is a nimble organization with a broad reach, and today's announcement underpins our strategy of pursuing opportunities on a global scale to marry our Anticalin drug candidates with complementary disease biology capabilities. This grant adds to the existing financial benefits that Pieris Australia is already realizing from the Australia R&D tax credit, which provides more than 40% cost reimbursement for qualified expenses."

Lead Investigator, Professor Gary Anderson, PhD, Director of the University's Lung Health Research Centre, explained the background and goals of the project. "I'm delighted that we will be working with our colleagues at Pieris to advance PRS-060 towards clinical trials for treating asthma. PRS-060 works by blocking a key protein, IL-4receptor alpha, which integrates signals in 'type 2 immunity' that both initiate and sustain asthma. Recent clinical trials in severe asthma using systemically administered monoclonal antibodies that block IL4Ra -- or a protein that acts through it, IL-13 -- have shown striking results, leading to marked improvement of lung function, improved symptoms and reduced use of oral steroids. We've known for around 100 years that most asthma medicines work best when delivered directly to the lung, but this has so far proven unrealistic with antibodies, as they are challenging to formulate for inhaled delivery. As an inhaled therapeutic protein, PRS-060 may provide a differentiated approach by binding as tightly to IL4Ra as clinically validated antibodies as well as antagonizing IL4Ra directly in the lung epithelia, while sparing target engagement in the periphery."