APC Invents Quantitative Method for Assessing Pattern of Antibody Labeling Impacting the Emerging, Rapidly Growing Market for Antibody-Drug Conjugates (ADC)

VANCOUVER, BC--(Marketwired - November 29, 2016) - Advanced Proteome Therapeutics Corporation ("APC" or the "Company") (TSX VENTURE: APC) (FRANKFURT: 0E8) is pleased to announce that it has invented a measurable basis for evaluating antibody labeling that provides key information on the pattern of labeling. The technology provides a means of sorting labeling entities according to the degree of selective labeling resulting from modification of a target antibody for conjugation. The methodology produces a rank order of candidate antibodies carrying antibody connectors for linkage to payloads such as drugs or toxins which should aid decision-making in ADC development. Immense growth is expected for the therapeutic antibody market which is estimated to reach nearly $125 Billion USD by the year 2020 (The therapeutic monoclonal antibody market: Ecker et al. MAbs 2015, Volume 7, ppgs 9-14.).

This invention was developed to fulfil the Company's recently announced partnering initiatives with Wilex AG's subsidiary, Heidelberg Pharma GmbH and the Toronto Recombinant Antibody Centre (TRAC) at the University of Toronto. The method has been applied to measurements of the selectivity pattern that emerges from APC's experimental conditions for labeling commercially marketed antibody targets.

Despite being prerequisites for a reliable assessment of performance of labeling technology, quantitative methods for the rapid determination of the purity of antibody-drug conjugates, and an analysis of the labeling pattern which produces them, have been lacking.

APC's approach to impacting the field of antibody-drug conjugates is to design a labeling entity that places a handle on the antibody to which virtually any payload such as a drug or toxin can be attached. Since the Company is targeting "universal" sites on antibodies, the type that all IgG antibodies possess, it is important to emphasize that our approach could ultimately enable attaching drugs or toxins to any target antibody selectively, for which quantitative measurements are essential. (IgGs are the principal antibody carriers of ADCs.)

Apropos of the above, APC is focusing on enabling technology, designed to link antibodies to drugs or toxins to produce pure and homogeneous antibody-drug conjugates. The field of antibody-drug conjugates affords numerous opportunities for improving the properties of therapeutic antibodies, but reliable methods for site-specifically attaching drugs or toxins to antibodies to give ADCs of high purity are needed to avoid the heterogeneity that currently limits applications of ADCs. The number of therapeutic antibodies and the companies producing them are legion, and growing, but comparatively few companies have capabilities for chemical modification of such antibodies aimed at producing "kinder and gentler" agents than classical chemotherapeutics.

About APC

Advanced Proteome Therapeutics Corporation (APC) is advancing a site-specific protein modification technology platform to enable the development of superior protein therapeutics. Using this technology, APC has generated numerous and diverse modifications of annexin proteins with superior binding and stability properties, which are amenable to further labeling and conjugation for use in therapeutic applications. APC is now vigorously applying its technologies to achieve the site-specific labeling of therapeutic antibodies and provide the next generation of antibody-drug conjugates.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. The forward-looking statements contained in this news release involve risks and uncertainties, and are subject to change based on various important factors including timely development and acceptance of new products, gaining product approval, successful entry into new markets, changes in financing conditions, and changes in FDA regulations.