Press Release

ROCKVILLE, MD, Nov. 14, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --

MacroGenics, Inc. (NASDAQ: MGNX), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing innovative monoclonal antibody-based therapeutics for the treatment of cancer, today announced that it had presented a poster titled "Converting PD-L1-induced T-lymphocyte Inhibition into CD137-mediated Co-stimulation via PD-L1 x CD137 Bispecific DART® Molecules", at the 30^th EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium being held in Dublin, Ireland.

PD-1/PD-L1 blockade is a clinically proven cancer therapeutic strategy that releases an inhibitory brake on T-cell activation. Co-stimulation by CD137, also known as 4-1BB, has been shown to synergistically increase the activity of PD-1/PD-L1 axis blockade. Clinical application of such a combination approach, however, may be limited by toxicity associated with the systemic administration of CD137 agonists. Bispecific antibody targeting strategies afford the feasibility of localizing CD137 co-stimulation to the tumor microenvironment through simultaneous engagement of a tumor-expressed antigen and CD137 expressed on tumor infiltrating lymphocytes. In this poster, MacroGenics demonstrated that bispecific DART or TRIDENT™ proteins constructed using a proprietary PD-L1 blocking monoclonal antibody, or mAb, and a CD137-engaging mAb can further extend immune cell activation observed by concomitant PD-1/PD-L1 axis blockade and CD137 co-stimulation beyond that achieved by the combination of individual mAbs. 

The preclinical data presented show that PD-L1 x CD137 bispecific DART and TRIDENT molecules can switch on CD137 co-stimulation strictly in a PD-L1-dependent fashion, limiting the probability of systemic activation where PD-L1 is not expressed. Although tumor adaptive resistance via PD-L1 induction promotes immune escape, PD-L1 x CD137 bispecific molecules can exploit the upregulation of the checkpoint ligand to provide a co-stimulatory signal and further amplify concomitant checkpoint blockade. Additional investigations as a potential therapeutic approach to overcome limitations of existing PD-1/PD-L1-targeting strategies are ongoing.

The poster presented at the 30^th EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium is available for download from the Events & Presentations page on MacroGenics' website at http://ir.macrogenics.com/events.cfm. 

About MacroGenics, Inc.

MacroGenics is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing innovative monoclonal antibody-based therapeutics for the treatment of cancer. The Company generates its pipeline of product candidates primarily from its proprietary suite of next-generation antibody-based technology platforms, which have applicability across broad therapeutic domains. The combination of MacroGenics' technology platforms and protein engineering expertise has allowed the Company to generate promising product candidates and enter into several strategic collaborations with global pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. For more information, please see the Company's website at www.macrogenics.com. MacroGenics, the MacroGenics logo, DART and TRIDENT are trademarks or registered trademarks of MacroGenics, Inc.

Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking Statements

Any statements in this press release about future expectations, plans and prospects for the Company, including statements about the Company's strategy, future operations, clinical development of the Company's therapeutic candidates, milestone or opt-in payments from the Company's collaborators, the Company's anticipated milestones and future expectations and plans and prospects for the Company and other statements containing the words "subject to", "believe", "anticipate", "plan", "expect", "intend", "estimate", "project", "may", "will", "should", "would", "could", "can", the negatives thereof, variations thereon and similar expressions, or by discussions of strategy constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including: the uncertainties inherent in the initiation and enrollment of future clinical trials, expectations of expanding ongoing clinical trials, availability and timing of data from ongoing clinical trials, expectations for regulatory approvals, other matters that could affect the availability or commercial potential of the Company's product candidates and other risks described in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, the forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the Company's views only as of the date hereof. The Company anticipates that subsequent events and developments will cause the Company's views to change. However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any obligation to do so, except as may be required by law. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to the date hereof.

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Contacts:
Jim Karrels, Senior Vice President, CFO
MacroGenics, Inc.
1-301-251-5172, info@macrogenics.comKaren Sharma, Senior Vice President
MacDougall Biomedical Communications
1-781-235-3060, ksharma@macbiocom.com

Source: MacroGenics, Inc.