Purple Biotech to Present New Data On its Oncology Drug NT219 at AACR 2024

NT219 found to suppress cancer stem cells that promote drug resistance to KRAS^G12C and KRAS^G12D inhibitors and solid tumor recurrence

Potential biomarkers for treatment with NT219 detected in responding patients in Phase 1

REHOVOT, Israel, March 28, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --  Purple Biotech Ltd. ("Purple Biotech" or "the Company") (NASDAQ/TASE: PPBT), a clinical-stage company developing first-in-class therapies that harness the power of the tumor microenvironment to overcome tumor immune evasion and drug resistance, today announced it will present data for its oncology candidate NT219, a first-in-class small molecule, dual-inhibitor of IRS 1/2 and STAT3, in two poster presentations at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting which takes place April 5-11, 2024, in San Diego, California.

“The growing body of clinical, biomarker, and preclinical data for NT219 demonstrate its potential not only in the lead indication of recurrent/metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, but also in other solid-tumor cancers. These publications at AACR 2024 are a result of the progress made last year both in clinical and preclinical work bringing out NT219’s attributes,” stated Gil Efron, Chief Executive Officer of Purple Biotech. “We look forward to leveraging these data as we move forward with the clinical evaluation of NT219.”

Dr Hadas Reuveni, VP Research and Development at Purple Biotech, added, “At AACR 2024 we will present new data related to NT219. We show for the first time the potential of NT219 to effectively suppress cancer stem cells (CSC), a critical cell population for tumor propagation, characterized by self-renewal and multipotency, and known to promote resistance and tumor recurrence. In addition, synergistic effect of NT219 and mKRAS inhibitors is demonstrated, suggesting a novel mechanism to combat resistance to both KRAS^G12Cand KRAS KRAS^G12D inhibitors in lung cancer and pancreatic cancers, respectively, both aggressive diseases with unmet medical need. In another presentation, we show the results of translational research in our Phase 1 study, suggesting activated IGF1R and STAT3 as potential biomarkers for the treatment with NT219. We will further evaluate these biomarkers in the next study.”