Araris Biotech AG Supported with CHF 2.5M Swiss Accelerator Grant from Innosuisse to Develop Antibody-Drug Conjugate Candidates

• Innosuisse supports 53 companies out of 752 applications with total CHF 112M
  
• Araris’ awarded grant will be used to support further development and advancement of Araris’ antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) candidates

AU ZH, Switzerland, May 05, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Araris Biotech AG (“Araris” or “the Company”), a company pioneering a proprietary antibody-drug conjugate (ADC)-linker technology, today announced that, Innosuisse, the Swiss innovation agency committed to promote science-based innovation in the interest of the economy and society in Switzerland, has supported Araris with CHF 2.5M non-dilutive grant funding through the Swiss Accelerator program for the development and advancement of its ADC candidates.

The Innosuisse Swiss Accelerator grant provides an opportunity for Swiss SMEs and start-ups to receive direct financial support for innovation projects with significant potential. Innosuisse received 752 project applications. Out of those, 53 projects were selected for approval after a three-stage assessment process. The Swiss Accelerator program’s total funding grant amounted to CHF 112M (~$125 million) with support per project amounting to a maximum of CHF 2.5M (~$2.8 million).

“We are honored to have been selected for the Swiss Accelerator grant and grateful to receive this support from Innosuisse,” said Philipp Spycher, Ph.D., chief executive officer and co-founder of Araris Biotech. “This non-dilutive funding will be beneficial as we continue to develop and advance our pipeline of next-generation ADC candidates, developed using our proprietary linker technology, towards the clinic.”

Araris’ ADC linker technology enables payload attachment to off the shelf antibodies without needing to re-engineer or reduce antibodies, resulting in highly homogenous, stable and potent ADC therapies. It also has the potential to address challenges associated with current ADCs, including unstable linkage, which can result in toxicity issues or lack of efficacy.

About Araris Biotech AG

Araris Biotech AG is pioneering the development of its novel antibody-drug conjugate (ADC)-linker technology to enable efficient and precise production of ADCs. Its linker platform enables the attachment of any drug payload to ‘off the shelf’ antibodies, without the need for prior antibody engineering. The resulting ADCs have shown very high activity at low doses and an improved therapeutic index compared to multiple FDA-approved ADCs. Araris is a spin-off company from the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) and ETH Zurich.

For more information, please visit www.ararisbiotech.com or follow Araris on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Corporate Contact:
Philipp Spycher, Ph.D.
Chief Executive Officer
info@ararisbiotech.com
www.ararisbiotech.com

Media Contact:
Veronica Eames
LifeSci Communications, LLC
veames@lifescicomms.com
646-970-4682