Press release
Monopar and NorthStar Announce Selection of uPRIT Candidate for Potential Treatment of Severe COVID-19
WILMETTE, Ill. and BELOIT, Wis., Dec. 10, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Monopar Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: MNPR) and NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes, LLC, which
About this update from Monopar Therapeutics Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"WILMETTE, Ill. and BELOIT, Wis., Dec. 10, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Monopar Therapeutics Inc. (Nasdaq: MNPR) and NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes, LLC, which are jointly developing a urokinase plasminogen activator receptor targeted radio-immuno-therapeutic (uPRIT) for the potential treatment of severe COVID-19, today announced the selection of a uPRIT clinical candidate. Monopar and NorthStar partnered with IsoTherapeutics Group LLC to generate a panel of uPRIT leads, which were then screened by Aragen Bioscience Inc., resulting in the identification of a uPRIT clinical candidate plus several backup candidates. uPRITs are analogs of MNPR-101, Monopar’s proprietary humanized urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (uPAR) targeted antibody, that have been modified to enable attachment of a therapeutic radioisotope. uPRITs bind to uPAR with high affinity and are thought to selectively recognize the aberrantly activated, pro-inflammatory immune cells that express this target and also seem to be mediating the cytokine storm leading to respiratory failure and poor outcomes in severe COVID-19 patients. The cleaved, blood-circulating soluble form of uPAR, suPAR, has been gaining attention as a potentially important prognostic biomarker for severe COVID-19 in several recently published studies. Rovina et al. 2020 showed that patients with elevated levels of suPAR at the time of hospital admission are 17 times more likely to develop severe respiratory failure (p=0.0000000012); Arnold et al. 2020 showed suPAR to have the best performance in predicting outcome (such as intensive care unit admission and death) of all the biomarkers examined; and Eugen-Olsen et al. 2020 showed that low levels of suPAR are predictive of mild outcome in COVID-19 patients. The aim with uPRITs is to bind to and rapidly eliminate the aberrantly activated immune cells, quickly shutting down the cytokine storm. If uPRITs are effective in this setting, they may also be effective in treating other diseases characterized by rapid and severe systemic inflammatory responses, including certain pneumonias and sepsis. The uPRIT with the most attractive uPAR binding profile was selected to advance into IND-enabling studies. “Selection of a uPRIT candidate allows us to begin preclinical studies, and brings us one step closer to reaching human clinical trials,” said Andrew Maz...