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BIND Therapeutics Announces Collaboration with Affilogic to Provide BIND with Access to Targeting Ligands that are Key Modulators of Anti-tumor ImmunityBIND Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: BIND), a biotechnology company developing targeted and programmable therapeutics called ACCURINS®, today announced a research collaboration with Affilogic, a privately held biotechnology company developing affinity proteins called Nanofitins® that selectively bind and interact with identified targets. Under terms of the collaboration, BIND will utilize Nanofitins® as targeting ligand components for ACCURINS® designed to bind immuno-oncology targets. Upon achievement of proof-of-concept, BIND anticipates expanding the collaboration to develop ACCURINS® that incorporate unique combinations of immuno-oncology targeting ligands and new classes of payloads, including oligonucleotides and molecularly targeted therapies. "Targeting ligand collaborations are an important part of our strategy to develop innovative medicines and this collaboration provides us with access to targeting ligands that are key modulators of anti-tumor immunity," said Jonathan Yingling, Ph.D., chief scientific officer, BIND Therapeutics. "The modular nature of our platform, including the ability to utilize targeting ligands that elicit a biological response and enhance disease tissue accumulation, will potentially allow us to develop ACCURINS® that cause tumor cell death and/or modulate the tumor microenvironment as a way to maximize clinical benefit for patients." ACCURINS® are polymeric nanoparticles that encapsulate and control the release of therapeutic payloads with diverse physical and chemical properties, including highly charged payloads such as oligonucleotides and molecularly targeted therapies that have previously been difficult to formulate in a nanoparticle. Additionally, the surface of ACCURINS® can be functionalized with a variety of biologically active ligands, potentially with multiple types of ligands on the same particle. BIND's collaboration with Affilogic is intended to investigate the use of Nanofitins® protein ligands that bind to important immune regulators. "We are excited about our collaboration with BIND Therapeutics and believe our Nanofitin® targeting ligands can play an important role in BIND's innovative medicine strategy," said Olivier Kitten, chief executive officer, AFFILOGIC. "BIND's ACCURINS® platform has proven very effective at encapsulating and controlling the release kinetics of a wide variety of therapeutic payloads. When combined with our ability to specifically tailor Nanofitins to target important immune-oncology checkpoints, we believe this collaboration could lead to the discovery and development of truly innovative therapeutics." This early research collaboration is not expected to have a material financial impact on BIND Therapeutics. Additional terms of the collaboration have not been disclosed.
About ACCURINS®
ACCURINS® can be engineered for multiple therapeutic applications and have the potential to integrate numerous payloads, including highly potent drugs with mechanism-based toxicities that limit therapeutic benefit, DNA, RNA, proteins and immunotherapy agents. This attribute enables ACCURINS® to target multiple diseases, including cancer, inflammatory, vascular, and infectious disease.
About Nanofitins® Affilogic designs and develops Nanofitins® through early-stage collaborations, as well as a proprietary portfolio.
About BIND Therapeutics BIND has announced ongoing collaborations with Pfizer Inc., AstraZeneca AB, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Merck & Co., or Merck (known as Merck Sharp & Dohme outside the United States and Canada), Macrophage Therapeutics (a subsidiary of Navidea Biopharmaceuticals), Synergy (News - Alert) Pharmaceuticals, PeptiDream and Affilogic to develop ACCURINS® based on their proprietary therapeutic payloads and/or targeting ligands. BIND's collaboration with AstraZeneca has resulted in the Aurora B Kinase inhibitor Accurin AZD2811, which became the second Accurin candidate to enter clinical development. BIND's collaboration with Pfizer has resulted in the selection of an Accurin candidate that is entering IND-enabling studies. For more information, please visit BIND's web site at www.bindtherapeutics.com.
About Affilogic Affilogic has designed Nanofitins® against 50+ targets to date, including a wide range of circulating antigens (peptides, proteins), membrane receptors for inhibition / modulation / translocation, and complex entities (Virus-like Particles, bacteria, whole cells). Nanofitin®-based drugs are currently being developed in collaboration with Ferring, Sanofi and other undisclosed pharmaceutical companies. Several early-stage programs are currently exploring
More information is available at www.affilogic.com
Forward-Looking Statements Disclaimer These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause BIND's actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the following: risks relating to BIND's recent filing for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code; the fact that BIND has incurred significant losses since its inception and expects to incur losses for the foreseeable future; BIND's need for additional funding, which may not be available, in order to continue as a going concern; effects of adverse capital market conditions on BIND's liquidity; adverse effects on BIND's business due to the report of its independent registered public accounting firm on its financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2015, which contains an explanatory paragraph regarding BIND's ability to continue as a going concern; raising additional capital may cause dilution to its stockholders, restrict its operations or require it to relinquish rights to its technologies or drug candidates; BIND's limited operating history; limitations on BIND's ability to utilize net operating loss carryforwards and certain other tax attributes; failure to use and expand its MEDICINAL ENGINEERING® platform to build a pipeline of drug candidates and develop marketable drugs; the early stage of BIND's development efforts with only BIND-014 and Accurin AZD2811 in clinical development; failure of BIND or its collaborators to successfully develop and commercialize drug candidates; clinical drug development involves a lengthy and expensive process, with an uncertain outcome; delays or difficulties in the enrollment of patients in clinical trials; serious adverse or unacceptable side effects or limited efficacy observed during the development of BIND's drug candidates; inability to maintain any of BIND's collaborations, or the failure of these collaborations; inability to enter into a collaboration for BIND-014; BIND's reliance on third parties to conduct its clinical trials and manufacture its drug candidates; BIND's inability to obtain required regulatory approvals; the fact that a fast track or breakthrough therapy designation by the FDA for BIND's drug candidates may not actually lead to a faster development or regulatory review or approval process; the inability to obtain orphan drug exclusivity for drug candidates; failure to obtain marketing approval in international jurisdictions; any post-marketing restrictions or withdrawals from the market; effects of recently enacted and future legislation; failure to comply with environmental, health and safety laws and regulations; failure to achieve market acceptance by physicians, patients, or third-party payors; failure to establish effective sales, marketing and distribution capabilities or enter into agreements with third parties with such capabilities; effects of substantial competition; unfavorable pricing regulations, third-party reimbursement practices or healthcare reform initiatives; product liability lawsuits; failure to retain key executives and attract, retain and motivate qualified personnel; difficulties in managing BIND's growth; risks associated with operating internationally, including the possibility of sanctions with respect to our operations in Russia; the possibility of system failures or security breaches; failure to obtain and maintain patent protection for or otherwise protect our technology and products; effects of patent or other intellectual property lawsuits; the price of our common stock may be volatile and fluctuate substantially; significant costs and required management time as a result of operating as a public company; and any securities class action litigation. These and other important factors discussed under the caption "Risk Factors" in BIND's Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC (News - Alert), on March 15, 2016, with respect to BIND's other reports filed with the SEC could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements made in this press release. Any such forward-looking statements represent management's estimates as of the date of this press release. While we may elect to update such forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we disclaim any obligation to do so, even if subsequent events cause the companies' views to change. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the companies' views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.
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