Dren Bio Strengthens Leadership Team with Appointment of Amit Mehta, Ph.D., as Chief Operating Officer and Chief Business Officer

– Dr. Mehta joins Dren Bio from Genentech where he served as Vice President and Head of Business Development, bringing two decades of industry experience spanning drug development, operations and strategic partnering –

October 30, 2023 5:02 AM Pacific Standard

FOSTER CITY, Calif., (BUSINESS WIRE) – Dren Bio, Inc. (“Dren Bio” or the “Company”) a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing antibody therapeutics for cancer, autoimmune and other serious diseases, today announced the expansion of its leadership team with the appointment of Amit Mehta, Ph.D., as the Company’s Chief Operating Officer and Chief Business Officer. Dr. Mehta will be responsible for business development efforts, corporate strategy and leading the operational advancement and expansion of Dren Bio’s pipeline.

Dr. Mehta joins Dren Bio from Genentech, where he served as Vice President and Head of Business Development and was a core member of the Genentech Research and Early Development Leadership Team, Research Review Committee, and Early Stage Portfolio Committee. During his 18-year tenure at Genentech, Dr. Mehta held roles of increasing responsibility that spanned process development, manufacturing, strategy and business development. He led multiple high-performing teams that made significant contributions to numerous early and late-stage programs, helped shape disease area strategies and established vital external partnerships across technology platforms, personalized healthcare, and several therapeutic areas. Dr. Mehta earned a B.E. in Chemical Engineering from Bangalore University and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Pennsylvania State University.

“We are thrilled to welcome Amit as the newest member of Dren Bio’s leadership team,” said Nenad Tomasevic, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Dren Bio. “Amit brings a wealth of drug development, business development and operational expertise that will be invaluable as Dren Bio rapidly advances its first-in-class DR-01 program into late- stage development, initiates first clinical studies with DR-0201 as the lead candidate from its novel Targeted Myeloid Engager and Phagocytosis Platform and expands its pipeline into multiple indications. Given our platform has the potential to establish a broad pipeline spanning various therapeutic areas, Amit’s vast experience will be critical in helping scale Dren Bio and advancing our pipeline either internally or through partnerships.”

Dr. Mehta commented, “I am incredibly excited to join a rapidly growing company with such a strong mission and innovative science. I have been impressed with the broad potential of Dren Bio’s current pipeline and its highly differentiated myeloid engager platform that can rapidly generate new molecules for the targeted depletion of pathologic cells and other disease-causing agents for a multitude of clinical applications. Dren Bio has made tremendous progress in such a short duration and I am eager to help the Company expand and extend the reach of its pipeline and platform to improve clinical outcomes for patients.”

About Dren Bio

Dren Bio is a privately held, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company pioneering the discovery and development of technologies for the selective depletion of pathologic cells, protein aggregates and other disease-causing agents. Dren Bio’s portfolio of innovative therapeutics includes DR-01, its first-in-class lead product candidate that depletes cytotoxic cells using cellular fratricide and is currently being evaluated in an ongoing Phase 1/2 basket study for the treatment of large granular lymphocytic leukemia or cytotoxic lymphomas. In addition to DR-01, the Company has developed multiple programs using its proprietary Targeted Myeloid Engager and Phagocytosis Platform. A first-in-human study for the lead platform candidate, DR-0201, is scheduled to start in Q4 2023. Dren Bio is also in active preparations to expand its pipeline into multiple indications. Both DR-01 and the Targeted Myeloid Engager and Phagocytosis Platform are wholly owned and were developed by Dren Bio’s team having deep expertise in immunology and protein engineering. For more information about Dren Bio and its current development pipeline, please visit the Company’s website at www.drenbio.com.

Source: Dren Bio, Inc.

Company Contact:

Jeff Macfarland

SVP, Finance

ir@drenbio.com

Dren Bio Announces $65 Million Series B Financing to Advance its Lead Asset into the Clinic and to Accelerate Development of New Product Candidates from its Targeted Myeloid Engager and Phagocytosis Platform

- Momentum continues to build for Dren Bio after successfully forming highly experienced senior leadership team and earlier this year announcing research collaboration and license deal with Pfizer -

– The financing round was co-led by Aisling Capital and HBM Healthcare Investments with participation from new investors Pfizer, ArrowMark Partners and Revelation Partners, along with all current insiders –

June 14, 2022 8:00 AM Eastern Standard Time

FOSTER CITY, Calif., (BUSINESS WIRE) – Dren Bio, Inc. (“Dren Bio” or the “Company”) today announced the completion of their $65 million Series B financing, pushing the Company’s total capital received to date over $156 million. Following the financing, Dren Bio is well-capitalized to reach multiple key inflection points across both its drug discovery programs over the coming years.

“We are truly grateful for all the support we continue to receive from such an outstanding syndicate of investors,” said Nenad Tomasevic, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Dren Bio. “This financing comes at the perfect time as we prepare to initiate the first clinical trial evaluating DR-01, our lead asset, in patients with Large Granular Lymphocytic leukemia or cytotoxic lymphomas in mid-2022. In addition to advancing DR-01, the proceeds from this latest round will also enable us to further expand the development of our internal pipeline using our proprietary Targeted Myeloid Engager and Phagocytosis Platform.”

The Series B financing was co-led by Aisling Capital and HBM Healthcare Investments, with participation by new marquee investors Pfizer, ArrowMark Partners and Revelation Partners. There was also significant participation in the round by Dren Bio’s existing insiders SR One, 8VC, Taiho Ventures, BVF Partners, Mission BioCapital and Alexandria Venture Investments, amongst others. In connection with the closing of the financing, the Company announced that Andrew Schiff, M.D., of Aisling Capital, and Chandra P. Leo, M.D., of HBM Partners, will join its Board of Directors.

“We were thoroughly impressed by Dren Bio’s diversified R&D portfolio that encompasses two distinct therapeutic antibody programs including their attractive proprietary platform,” said Dr. Schiff, Managing Partner at Aisling Capital. “We are excited by the opportunity to support Dren Bio in progressing on their mission to deliver revolutionary therapies to patients with severe unmet needs, starting with difficult-to-treat cancers.” 

Dr. Leo, of HBM Partners, added, “Over the last 18 months, Dren Bio has delivered robust preclinical data for their lead asset DR-01 and for their unique technology to induce myeloid cell engagement and phagocytosis. With this new financing, the Company is well positioned to rapidly advance DR-01 towards clinical proof-of-concept and to demonstrate the broad potential of their highly differentiated platform.”

Proceeds from the financing will enable Dren Bio to continue advancement of its broad internal pipeline comprised of multiple development candidates approaching the clinic. The Company’s lead asset, DR-01, is designed to precisely eliminate a subset of immune cells which are the underlying cause of certain hematologic malignancies and well-defined autoimmune disorders, both of which will be evaluated using its current funding. Dren Bio’s position as an emerging leader in the antibody therapeutics space is further strengthened by the exceptional prospects of its Targeted Myeloid Engager and Phagocytosis Platform. Bispecific antibodies generated using the proprietary platform have been shown to produce effects that are well-differentiated from other competing technologies including T cell engagers, antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (“ADCC”) antibodies and antibody-drug conjugates. In addition to their profound and multi-pronged mechanism of action, initial development candidates have been very well tolerated in non-human primates, which should enable their utilization in both oncology and non-oncology indications. With its current funding, Dren Bio now has the opportunity to demonstrate the vast potential of its platform to produce therapies for a wide array of patients.

About Dren Bio

Dren Bio is a privately held, clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing therapeutic antibodies for the treatment of cancer, autoimmune and other serious diseases. The Company’s senior leadership team and scientific advisors have significant expertise covering the discovery and development of antibody-based product candidates designed to selectively target and deplete pathologic cells, protein aggregates and other disease-causing agents. Dren Bio’s pipeline encompasses two distinct programs, the first focusing on the engineering of antibodies with enhanced antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (“ADCC”) capabilities and the second revolving around its proprietary Targeted Myeloid Engager and Phagocytosis Platform. For more information about Dren Bio and its two programs, please visit the Company’s website at www.drenbio.com.

About Dren Bio’s Enhanced ADCC Program

Dren Bio’s Enhanced ADCC Program incorporates a validated and well understood technology for which the Company’s senior leadership team has extensive experience. The lead product candidate from this program, DR-01, has been shown preclinically to induce rapid ADCC of a cell type that possesses intrinsic cytotoxic potential and is the primary driver of disease in several rare, hematologic malignancies. In addition to these initial cancers, DR-01 is also being evaluated for potential use in treating a number of other indications, including various autoimmune disorders for which the same cytotoxic immune cells are known to play a key role.

About Dren Bio’s Targeted Myeloid Engager and Phagocytosis Platform

The Company’s Targeted Myeloid Engager and Phagocytosis Platform is an innovative and scientifically compelling approach towards discovering bispecific antibodies for the co-engagement of a conserved, microbial phagocytic receptor highly expressed on myeloid cells, along with a specific target antigen expressed on a pathologic cell or other disease-causing agent of interest. The unique biology of the novel phagocytic receptor enables controlled myeloid cell activation only in the presence of the desired target antigen, thereby resulting in localized cytokine release for an increased therapeutic index and more favorable safety profile. Bispecific antibodies from the platform that are being developed for the treatment of cancer elicit a powerful, multi-pronged mechanism of action that encompasses (i) direct coupling of myeloid cells with cancer cells, (ii) stimulation of myeloid cells for the release of key cytokines known to reprogram tumor associated macrophages and reset the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment, (iii) phagocytosis and killing of tumor cells, and (iv) presentation of tumor neoantigens for activating effector and memory T cell responses necessary to achieve anti-tumor immunity. The significant upregulation of Antigen Presenting Machinery (“APM”) signature genes and boost to both the number and diversity of peptides presented, collectively support the potential of future drug candidates discovered using the platform to provide longer-lasting responses than those currently observed by other comparable immune cell engaging technologies.

Dren Bio’s first development candidate using the platform, DR-0201, co-engages a validated target expressed on the surface of B cells. Exciting preclinical data generated to date from both functional assays and in vivo animal models consistently demonstrate the ability of DR-0201 to induce robust B cell depletion using a differentiated approach when compared head-to-head against ADCC antibody and T cell engager technologies. DR-0201 also consistently exhibits an attractive safety profile, which has now been observed in multiple studies of non-human primates. In addition to Dren Bio’s initial efforts focused on difficult-to-treat cancers, DR-0201 is being evaluated in autoimmune disorders for which the depletion of B cells has previously been validated in patients. Beyond DR-0201, the Company’s early-stage pipeline also includes the discovery of bispecific antibodies against well-known solid tumor targets as well as exciting new development opportunities to potentially treat severe, life-threatening non-oncology indications such as light chain (AL) amyloidosis, transthyretin (ATTR) amyloidosis, and Alzheimer’s disease, through the removal of harmful protein aggregates.

Source: Dren Bio, Inc.

Company Contact:

Jeff Macfarland

SVP, Finance

ir@drenbio.com

Dren Bio Announces Research Collaboration and License Agreement with Pfizer to Discover and Advance Multiple Therapeutic Antibodies Using its Targeted Myeloid Engager and Phagocytosis Platform for the Treatment of Cancer

– Strategic collaboration with Pfizer leverages Dren Bio’s proprietary platform to develop bispecific antibodies that connect tumor cells with myeloid cells resulting in immune stimulation, targeted phagocytosis and the cross-presentation of tumor neoantigens to potentially promote durable clinical responses –

– Dren Bio received $25 million upfront payment as part of overall deal for selected oncology targets that includes over $1 billion in potential cash payments plus potential future product-based sales royalties –

January 11, 2022 08:00 AM Eastern Standard Time

REDWOOD CITY, Calif., (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) – Dren Bio, Inc. (“Dren Bio” or the “Company”) today announced it has entered into a research collaboration and license agreement with Pfizer Inc. The strategic collaboration will focus on the discovery and development of therapeutic bispecific antibodies for select oncology targets using Dren Bio’s proprietary Targeted Myeloid Engager and Phagocytosis Platform.

Under the terms of the agreement, Pfizer made an upfront cash payment of $25 million to Dren Bio, with the Company eligible to potentially receive more than $1 billion of cash in total, including payments for the achievement of future development, regulatory, and commercial milestones. Dren Bio and Pfizer will work together to advance the selected oncology target programs through clinical candidate selection, at which point Pfizer will assume full responsibility for all remaining development, manufacturing, regulatory and commercialization activities. For each target-specific product that is globally licensed by Pfizer, Dren Bio will be eligible to receive tiered royalties on all future net sales during the term of the Agreement. Additionally, under the terms of the agreement, Pfizer also has the right to reserve and subsequently nominate additional oncology targets to license from Dren Bio, subject to additional cash payments and future royalties. Excluding products developed for targets licensed to Pfizer, Dren Bio will retain exclusive global rights for the platform including all other therapeutic targets currently in development as part of its own internal pipeline.

“This agreement highlights Dren Bio’s expertise in therapeutic antibody development and marks the first collaboration using our proprietary platform to harness myeloid cells in disease, offering a differentiated approach with the potential to provide revolutionary therapies to patients across a broad array of therapeutic areas, starting with cancer,” said Nenad Tomasevic, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Dren Bio. “Pfizer’s unwavering commitment to deliver innovative therapies makes them an ideal strategic partner to help us achieve this vision.”

“Building on Pfizer’s established leadership position in oncology research, we are excited to work alongside Dren Bio on a novel strategy focused on the engagement of myeloid cells to treat cancer,” said Jeff Settleman, Ph.D., Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer for Oncology Research and Development at Pfizer. “Together we hope to develop potential breakthrough treatments for cancer patients.”

The Company’s proprietary Targeted Myeloid Engager and Phagocytosis Platform is a bispecific antibody-based technology that engages a receptor selectively expressed on myeloid cells, including monocytes, macrophages, and dendritic cells. Certain myeloid cells, such as Tumor-Associated Macrophages (TAMs), are part of the tumor microenvironment where they can be immunosuppressive and are therefore often associated with poorer clinical outcomes. By repolarizing TAMs and engaging them together with dendritic cells to execute targeted phagocytosis, antigen presentation, and subsequent T cell activation, the Company’s platform antibodies may expand the therapeutic benefit of immunotherapy while also potentially promoting durable clinical responses.

Data generated to date using platform antibodies from the Company’s pipeline demonstrate a differentiated, multi-pronged mechanism of action that encompasses (i) direct coupling of myeloid cells with tumor cells, (ii) stimulation of myeloid cells causing the release of key cytokines responsible for repolarizing TAMs in order to mitigate the immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment, (iii) targeted phagocytosis of tumor cells and (iv) cross-presentation of tumor neoantigens to promote the future activation of tumor-specific T cells to potentially promote a long-lasting immunological memory response. The unique biology of the novel phagocytic receptor targeted by the Company’s platform antibodies enables controlled myeloid cell activation only in the presence of the target antigen, resulting in localized cytokine release for potentially greater therapeutic indexes and safety profiles. In addition to the pharmacodynamic effect demonstrated in preclinical non-human primate studies to date, the observed tolerability and safety profile support the potential utilization of future platform candidates at higher or broader dose levels, which may provide an important benefit when compared to competing technologies such as T or NK cell engagers and antibody drug conjugates.

Dren Bio’s internal development pipeline for the platform currently includes multiple antibodies targeting both liquid and solid tumor types. In addition to the initial focus on developing therapies for the treatment of cancer, the Company has also generated data using platform antibodies against targets associated with non-oncology indications, including forms of amyloidosis and Alzheimer’s disease. This data further supports the vast potential of the platform for developing multiple successful product candidates.

About Dren Bio:

Dren Bio is a privately held, preclinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing therapeutic antibodies for the treatment of cancer, autoimmune and other serious diseases. The Company’s management team and scientific advisors have significant expertise covering the discovery and development of drug product candidates designed to selectively target and deplete pathologic cells, protein aggregates and other disease-causing agents. Dren Bio’s drug discovery pipeline encompasses two distinct programs. The Company’s first program focuses on enhanced antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity. The lead product candidate from this first program, DR-01, has been shown preclinically to induce rapid antibody-mediated depletion of a cell type that possesses intrinsic cytotoxic potential and is the primary driver of disease in several rare hematologic malignancies. In addition, DR-01 is also being evaluated for potential use in treating a number of auto-immune indications for which the same cytotoxic immune cells are known to play a key role. Dren Bio is on track to file the first IND for DR-01 in early 2022. The Company’s second program surrounds its proprietary Targeted Myeloid Engager and Phagocytosis Platform, a bispecific antibody-based technology that engages a receptor selectively expressed on myeloid cells, including monocytes, macrophages, and dendritic cells. Certain myeloid cells, such as Tumor-Associated Macrophages (TAMs), are part of the tumor microenvironment where they can be immunosuppressive and are therefore often associated with poorer clinical outcomes. By repolarizing TAMs and engaging them together with dendritic cells to execute targeted phagocytosis, antigen presentation, and subsequent T cell activation, the Company’s platform antibodies may expand the therapeutic benefit of immunotherapy while also potentially promoting durable clinical responses. For more information, please visit the Company's website at www.drenbio.com.

Source: Dren Bio, Inc.

Company Contact:

Jeff Macfarland

SVP, Finance

ir@drenbio.com