( FREISING-WEIHENSTEPHAN Germany June ...)Pieris Progresses Development of its Proprietary Biotherapeutics,Platform: Successful Demonstration of Dual Targeting With,Duocalin(R) Technology,Health

FREISING-WEIHENSTEPHAN, Germany, June 21, 2007 /PRNewswire/ -- Pieris AG, a bio-pharmaceutical company developing Anticalins(R), a novel class of targeted human protein therapeutics, announced today that its proprietary Duocalin(R) technology has successfully demonstrated dual targeting potential.

Commenting on this development, Dr Andreas Hohlbaum, Director of Science and Preclinical Development of Pieris said: "As Pieris continues to validate the therapeutic application of its technologies, dual targeting is viewed as a major step forward. Combining the benefits of bivalent, avid binding of disease targets with the ability to modulate two targets at once shows the clear development potential of the Duocalin(R) technology to treat multi-factorial diseases".

Using individual monomeric Anticalins(R) selected to have picomolar binding affinity to distinct determinants on two defined clinically validated targets, Pieris has constructed Duocalins(R) as monomeric, bivalent binding proteins that retain target specificity and affinity regardless of the structural orientation of their binding domains. Furthermore, the high intrinsic stability of Duocalins(R) is comparable to monomeric Anticalins(R), offering flexible formulation and delivery potential for Duocalin(R)-based drug candidates.

Despite the low molecular weight of monomeric Anticalins(R) relative to antibodies, their core scaffold provides a highly selective binding site with high structural plasticity and an extensive binding surface comparable to that achieved with antibodies. The adaptability of the Anticalin(R) scaffold has already allowed Pieris to develop therapeutic and diagnostic product candidates with custom designed functionality. Duocalins(R) allow multiple targets to be bound and modulated through a single molecule, which is particularly advantageous in diseases known to involve more than a single causative factor. Moreover,
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