Monopar and NorthStar Announce Filing of Provisional Patent Protecting Development and Use of Radio-Immuno-Therapeutics (RITs) Targeting Severe COVID-19 Through uPAR

CHICAGO and BELOIT, Wis., June 30, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Monopar Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: MNPR) (Chicago, IL) and NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes, LLC (Beloit, WI) announced today that a provisional patent application entitled “Precision Radioimmunotherapeutic Targeting of the Urokinase Plasminogen Activator Receptor (uPAR) for Treatment of Severe COVID-19 Disease” has been filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

This application covers novel compositions and uses of cytotoxic radioisotopes attached to antibodies that bind to uPAR, thereby creating precision targeted radiotherapeutics (uPRITs) for the treatment of severe COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases. Advanced COVID-19 patients frequently develop severe, life-threatening, pulmonary inflammation as a result of a viral induced cytokine storm. The development of this cytokine storm is associated with a high rate of mortality in severe COVID-19 patients, even with oxygen support and mechanical ventilation. uPRITs have been designed with the goal of selectively destroying the aberrantly activated white blood cells responsible for causing the cytokine storm. If successful, healthy tissue would be spared in the process as the uPAR target is primarily only present on this unique class of white blood cells and not in healthy tissue. The co-inventors of the provisional patent application are James Harvey, Chief Scientific Officer of NorthStar, and Andrew P. Mazar, Chief Scientific Officer of Monopar.

If granted, the patent would offer exclusivity to Monopar and NorthStar for the development and potential use of uPRITs in the treatment of severe COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases. This provisional patent application leverages the therapeutic radioisotope expertise of NorthStar and the translational expertise of Monopar to create a novel, targeted radioimmunotherapeutic. On June 16, 2020, Monopar and NorthStar announced a 50/50 collaboration to couple Monopar’s MNPR-101 uPAR targeting monoclonal antibody to a therapeutic radioisotope provided by NorthStar.

About Monopar Therapeutics Inc. (Monopar)
Monopar Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing proprietary therapeutics designed to extend life or improve the quality of life for cancer patients. Monopar’s pipeline consists of Validive for the prevention of chemoradiotherapy-induced severe oral mucositis in oropharyngeal cancer patients; camsirubicin for the treatment of advanced soft tissue sarcoma; and a preclinical stage uPAR targeted antibody MNPR-101 for advanced cancers and severe COVID-19. For more information, visit: www.monopartx.com.