Centessa Pharmaceuticals Announces Non-Human Primate Pharmacokinetic and Safety Data for LB101 (PD-L1xCD47) Demonstrating Potential for Enhanced Therapeutic Index

Data support continued advancement of LB101 toward IND submission late this year

BOSTON and LONDON, Sept. 12, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Centessa Pharmaceuticals plc (Nasdaq: CNTA), a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company with a Research & Development ("R&D”) innovation engine that aims to discover, develop, and ultimately deliver impactful medicines to patients, today announced non-clinical pharmacokinetic (PK) and safety data in non-human primates (NHPs) for LB101 (PD-L1xCD47), its first LockBody® candidate for solid tumors. Findings from these data reinforce the potential of its LockBody platform to minimize the systemic effects of potent immune effectors and significantly improve the therapeutic index. Centessa management will discuss the data during the Morgan Stanley 20^th Annual Global Healthcare Conference taking place today at 8:45 am ET.

"These data, together with the non-clinical data presented at ASCO earlier this year, continue to validate our novel LockBody pharmacology, which leverages the natural cleaving of the human IgG-derived hinge to deliver powerful effectors like anti-CD47 into the tumor environment,” said Saurabh Saha, MD, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of Centessa. "Whereas current therapies targeting CD47 are encumbered with severe toxicities due to peripheral activity on circulating red blood cells, LB101 has the potential to optimally deliver anti-PD-L1 activity plus targeted anti-CD47 activity to the tumor micro-environment. These new non-clinical data demonstrate systemic delivery of high doses of LB101 without hematological toxicity in non-human primates, resulting in the potential to achieve an enhanced therapeutic index, increased anti-tumor activity, and enable meaningful treatment for patients with solid tumors. We look forward to advancing LB101 into the clinic and plan to submit an IND late this year.”

In the study, male and female cynomolgus monkeys were administered LB101 intravenously, every 7 days over 28 days (q7 days x 4) at doses of 5mg/kg, 20mg/kg, and 50mg/kg. The pharmacokinetics of LB101 were assessed and exhibited a typical IgG1-like PK profile. There were no adverse changes in hematologic parameters (including no anemia and no thrombocytopenia), no changes in body weights and no adverse toxicology findings.

Event: Morgan Stanley 20th Annual Global Healthcare Conference
Date: Monday, September 12, 2022
Location: New York City, NY
Fireside Chat Time: 8:45 AM ET

Access to the live and archived recording of the webcast of the fireside chat, as well as a copy of the Company’s slides that will be used at the conference, will be available under the "Events and Publications” tab on the investor relations section of the Centessa Pharmaceuticals website at https://investors.centessa.com/events-presentations.

About Centessa Pharmaceuticals
Centessa Pharmaceuticals plc is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company with an R&D innovation engine that aims to discover, develop, and ultimately deliver impactful medicines to patients. Our programs span discovery-stage to late-stage development and cover a range of high-value indications in rare diseases and immuno-oncology. We are led by a management team with extensive R&D experience, providing direct guidance to our program teams to rapidly advance our candidates from research through all stages of development. For more information, visit www.centessa.com, which does not form part of this release.

Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements. These statements may be identified by words such as "may,” "might,” "will,” "could,” "would,” "should,” "expect,” "intend,” "plan,” "objective,” "anticipate,” "believe,” "estimate,” "predict,” "potential,” "continue,” "ongoing,” "aim,” "seek,” and variations of these words or similar expressions that are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Any such statements in this press release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements, including statements related to the Company’s ability to deliver impactful medicines to patients; the ability of our management team and board to drive execution of the Company’s portfolio of programs; our asset-centric business model and the intended advantages and benefits thereof; research and clinical development plans and the timing thereof; the scope, progress, results and costs of developing our product candidates or any other future product candidates; the development and therapeutic potential of our product candidates, including LB101, and our LockBody platform; strategy; regulatory matters, including the timing and likelihood of submitting an IND and the success of obtaining authorizations to initiate or continue clinical trials or market any products; and the market size and opportunity for our product candidates. Any forward-looking statements in this press release are based on our current expectations, estimates and projections only as of the date of this release and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those set forth in or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, risks related to the safety and tolerability profile of our product candidates; our ability to protect and maintain our intellectual property position; business (including commercial viability), regulatory, economic and competitive risks, uncertainties, contingencies and assumptions about the Company; risks inherent in developing product candidates and technologies; future results from our ongoing and planned clinical trials; our ability to obtain adequate financing, including through our financing facility with Oberland, to fund our planned clinical trials and other expenses; trends in the industry; the legal and regulatory framework for the industry, including the receipt and maintenance of clearances to conduct or continue clinical testing; future expenditures risks related to our asset-centric corporate model; the risk that any one or more of our product candidates will not be successfully developed and/or commercialized; the risk that the results of non-clinical studies or clinical studies will not be predictive of future results in connection with future studies; geo-political risks such as the Russia-Ukraine war and risks related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic including the effects of the Delta, Omicron and any other variants. These and other risks concerning our programs and operations are described in additional detail in our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, and our other reports, which are on file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). We explicitly disclaim any obligation to update any forward-looking statements except to the extent required by law.

Contact:

Kristen K. Sheppard, Esq.
SVP of Investor Relations
investors@centessa.com