Merus Announces Poster Presentations for Zenocutuzumab and MCLA-129 at the American Association for Cancer Research 2021 Annual Meeting

UTRECHT, The Netherlands and CAMBRIDGE, Mass., March 10, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Merus N.V. (Nasdaq: MRUS) ("Merus”, "the Company”, "we”, or "our”), a clinical-stage oncology company developing innovative, full-length multispecific antibodies (Biclonics® and Triclonics®), today announced that Merus will present preclinical data from our zenocutuzumab and MCLA-129 programs in three poster presentations at the American Association for Cancer Research 2021 Annual Meeting being held virtually for two weeks, April 10-15, 2021 and May 17-21, 2021.

E-Poster Presentation:

Title: The HER2×HER3 bi-specific antibody zenocutuzumab is effective at blocking growth of tumors driven by NRG1 gene fusions
Abstract #: 956
Session Category: Experimental and Molecular Therapeutics
Session Title: Biological Therapeutic Agents

Title: Zenocutuzumab: An antibody that can overcome HER3 mediated HRG signaling in tumor cells by docking on HER2
Abstract Number: 957
Session Category: Experimental and Molecular Therapeutics
Session Title: Biological Therapeutic Agents

Title: The bispecific antibody MCLA-129 impairs NSCLC tumor growth by targeting EGFR and c-MET, inhibiting ligand-induced signaling and promoting ADCC and ADCP
Abstract Number: 952
Session Category: Experimental and Molecular Therapeutics
Session Title: Biological Therapeutic Agents

Abstracts are available on the AACR annual meeting website.

The AACR e-poster website will be launched on Saturday April 10, 2021. All e-posters will be available on this website from Saturday, April 10 to Monday, June 21, 2021. The posters will also be available on the Merus website as of Saturday, April 10, 2021.

About Zeno
Zeno is an antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC)-enhanced Biclonics® that utilizes the Merus Dock & Block® mechanism to inhibit the neuregulin/HER3 tumor-signaling pathway in solid tumors with NRG1 gene fusions (NRG1+). Through its unique mechanism of binding to HER2 and potently blocking the interaction of HER3 with its ligand NRG1 or NRG1-fusion proteins, Zeno has the potential to be particularly effective against NRG1+ cancers. In preclinical studies, Zeno also potently inhibits HER2/HER3 heterodimer formation and tumor growth in models harboring NRG1 fusions.

Learn more about Zeno Dock & Block® at https://merus.nl/technology/.

About MCLA-129
MCLA-129 is an ADCC-enhanced Biclonics® that is designed to inhibit the EGFR and c-MET signaling pathways in solid tumors. Preclinical data has shown that MCLA-129 reverses resistance to tyrosine kinase resistant non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell lines resulting in tumor growth inhibition in xenograft models of NSCLC. MCLA-129 is designed to have two complementary mechanisms of action: blocking growth and survival pathways to stop tumor expansion and recruitment and enhancement of immune effector cells to eliminate the tumor.

About Merus N.V.
Merus is a clinical-stage oncology company developing innovative full-length human bispecific and trispecific antibody therapeutics, referred to as Multiclonics®. Multiclonics® are manufactured using industry standard processes and have been observed in preclinical and clinical studies to have several of the same features of conventional human monoclonal antibodies, such as long half-life and low immunogenicity. For additional information, please visit Merus’ website, http://www.merus.nl and https://twitter.com/MerusNV.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements contained in this press release that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements, including without limitation statements regarding zenocutuzumab and MCLA-129 antibody candidates’ potential safety, efficacy, mechanism of action and potential of Biclonics® in preclinical or clinical development to treat cancer. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the following: our need for additional funding, which may not be available and which may require us to restrict our operations or require us to relinquish rights to our technologies or Biclonics®, Triclonics™ and multispecific antibody candidates; potential delays in regulatory approval, which would impact our ability to commercialize our product candidates and affect our ability to generate revenue; the lengthy and expensive process of clinical drug development, which has an uncertain outcome; the unpredictable nature of our early stage development efforts for marketable drugs; potential delays in enrollment of patients, which could affect the receipt of necessary regulatory approvals; our reliance on third parties to conduct our clinical trials and the potential for those third parties to not perform satisfactorily; impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic; we may not identify suitable Biclonics® or bispecific antibody candidates under our collaborations or our collaborators may fail to perform adequately under our collaborations; our reliance on third parties to manufacture our product candidates, which may delay, prevent or impair our development and commercialization efforts; protection of our proprietary technology; our patents may be found invalid, unenforceable, circumvented by competitors and our patent applications may be found not to comply with the rules and regulations of patentability; we may fail to prevail in potential lawsuits for infringement of third-party intellectual property; and our registered or unregistered trademarks or trade names may be challenged, infringed, circumvented or declared generic or determined to be infringing on other marks.

These and other important factors discussed under the caption "Risk Factors” in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended September 30, 2020 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, on November 5, 2020, and our other reports filed with the SEC, could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements made in this press release. Any such forward-looking statements represent management’s estimates as of the date of this press release. While we may elect to update such forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we disclaim any obligation to do so, even if subsequent events cause our views to change, except as required under applicable law. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.