Heidelberg Pharma is a biopharmaceutical company working on a new treatment approach in oncology and developing novel drugs based on its ADC technologies for the targeted and highly effective treatment of cancer. ADCs are antibody-drug conjugates that combine the specificity of antibodies with the efficacy of toxins to fight cancer. Selected antibodies are loaded with cytotoxic compounds, the so-called payloads, that are transported into diseased cells. Inside the cells, the toxins then unleash their effect and kill the diseased cells.

Heidelberg Pharma uses several compounds and has built up an ADC toolbox that overcomes tumor resistance via numerous pathways and addresses different types of cancer using various antibodies. The goal is to develop targeted and highly effective ADCs for the treatment of a variety of malignant hematologic and solid tumors.

Heidelberg Pharma is the first company to use the compound Amanitin from the green death cap mushroom in cancer therapy. The biological mechanism of action of the toxin represents a new therapeutic modality and is used as a compound in the Amanitin-based ADC technology, the so-called ATAC technology. Amanitin is cross-linked to different antibodies designed to transport the compound to the cancer cell, where it is absorbed. There, the Amanitin is released and inhibits RNA polymerase II, which results in programmed cell death, or apoptosis. RNA polymerase inhibition is a novel principle in cancer therapy and offers the possibility of breaking through drug resistance and destroying dormant tumor cells, which could lead to significant advances in cancer therapy - even for patients who no longer respond to any other treatment. The Amanitin-based ADC development candidates are called ATACs.

The most advanced product candidate HDP-101 is a BCMA-ATAC for the indication multiple myeloma, which is currently in clinical development. Further ATAC candidates are being developed against different targets such as CD37 or PSMA each in the indications non-Hodgkin's lymphoma und metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.

The first candidate that Heidelberg Pharma is developing with a toxin other than Amanitin is HDP-201, an exatecan-based ADC. Exatecan is a topoisomerase I inhibitor that has proven itself in cancer therapy and is used in two already approved ADCs. It differs in its mode of action from that of Amanitin and thus expands the company's range of compounds. HDP-201, targets guanylyl cyclase-C (GCC), a receptor that is expressed on the surface of intestinal cells and cancer cells in various gastrointestinal tumors.

Based on a hybrid business model the ADC technology platforms are being used to develop proprietary therapeutic candidates as well as in research collaborations with partners to create new product candidates. Heidelberg Pharma develops the proprietary ADC candidates into early clinical development phases with the aim of demonstrating their applicability and efficacy in patients. The partners utilize the ADC technologies to combine their own antibodies with Heidelberg Pharma's payloads. In such cases, preclinical and clinical development is carried out by the partner.

The company is based in Ladenburg and is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange: ISIN DE000A11QVV0 / WKN A11QVV / Symbol HPHA. More information is available at www.heidelberg-pharma.com

ATAC® is a registered trademark of Heidelberg Pharma Research GmbH.

Heidelberg Pharma AG
Gregor-Mendel-Straße 22
68526 Ladenburg
Germany
Phone: +49 6203 1009-0
E-Mail: info@hdpharma.com

As of July 2024