Pyxis Oncology Successfully Completes Acquisition of Apexigen

Transaction adds a validated antibody-discovery platform, Phase 2 candidate and royalty stream

Company positioned as a leader in next-generation, end-to-end Antibody-Drug Conjugate (“ADC”) creation with clinically and commercially validated platform capabilities

Cash runway maintained into 1H 2025, enabling the Company to evaluate early signs of potential clinical activity for PYX-201 and PYX-106

Guidance on development strategy, timelines and milestones for the newly acquired Phase 2 sotigalimab CD40 agonist to be shared in 4Q23

BOSTON, Aug. 23, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Pyxis Oncology, Inc. (Nasdaq: PYXS) (“Pyxis Oncology” or the “Company”), a clinical-stage company focused on developing next-generation therapeutics to target difficult-to-treat cancers, today announced the successful completion of its acquisition of Apexigen, Inc. (“Apexigen”), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing innovative antibody therapeutics for oncology, in an all-stock transaction valued at approximately $10.7 million. The combined company is positioned at the forefront of ADC innovation with a platform that now includes four key components: novel humanized antibody generation capabilities, an expanded library of linkers with improved stability, site specific conjugation chemistries, and optimized payloads.

“Today is an exciting milestone for Pyxis Oncology as we expand our pipeline with the addition of sotigalimab (now PYX-107), a potentially first- and best-in-class CD40 agonist with demonstrated anti-cancer activity in patients who previously progressed on PD-(L)1 inhibitors, and enhance our ADC capabilities,” said Lara S. Sullivan, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Pyxis Oncology. “We are excited about the potential for the commercially and clinically validated APXiMAB platform to generate novel antibodies that can be optimized for targeted payload delivery. In combination with our clinically validated proprietary FACT platform licensed from Pfizer Inc., we believe Pyxis Oncology is now well positioned with an end-to-end system for designing and producing novel, next-generation ADC candidates with improved potency, stability and tolerability."