Myris Therapeutics is Developing Ultra-High DAR ADCs to Enable Novel Precision Medicine Treatments for Cancer

• Myris Therapeutics emerges from stealth to announce new name and strategic focus
• Proprietary polymer chemistry enables ultra-high drug to antibody ratios of 50 - 100 and new chemical space for precision targeted ADC payloads

PITTSBURGH, Feb. 20, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Myris Therapeutics™ emerged from stealth today to announce its strategic focus. Myris, formerly known as BioHybrid Solutions, has built on its history in enzyme bioconjugate development to emerge as a new Antibody Drug Conjugate (ADC) therapeutics company focused on the discovery and development of ultra-high Drug Antibody Ratio (DAR) ADCs. The first public release of Myris' ADC capabilities will be presented at AACR in Chicago, April 25-30, 2025.

Myris Therapeutics has a novel pipeline of ultra-high DAR ADC oncology medicines, developed using the company's deep expertise in polymer chemistry and cancer biologics. Myris' technology enables the development of ADCs with DAR50-300, meaning Myris can put 50-300 copies of the drug payload per antibody which is 10-100x higher than current standards. "This dramatically expands the range of possible payloads and precision therapy opportunities. Moreover, there are many clinically-validated small molecules that have previously not been amenable to use in ADCs because of their pharmacology or therapeutic index," said Laura Benjamin, PhD, CEO of Myris Therapeutics. "We are advancing promising clinical candidates by utilizing innovative, yet proven, antibodies and payloads. Our emerging preclinical data suggest that we will see the expected improvement in efficacy and tolerability that the field so desperately needs."

Laura Benjamin, PhD, joined Myris' Board in 2023 and stepped in as CEO in 2024 to lead the company's shift to oncology. Prior to Myris, Laura was the CEO at OncXerna, where she raised >$100 million USD to advance clinical development of two oncology programs. Earlier positions included VP/CSO in oncology at Eli Lilly, Associate Professor in Pathology at Harvard Medical School, and Co-director of the Center for Vascular Biology at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical School. Laura received her BA in Biology from Barnard College, Columbia University and her PhD in Molecular Biology from the University of Pennsylvania.

Myris Therapeutic's predecessor company, BioHybrid Solutions, was founded to use sophisticated polymer chemistry to improve the druggability of therapeutic enzymes. The polymer technology remains central to Myris' ultra-high DAR ADC capabilities and the company's founders continue to play a leading role in Myris. Co-founder Krzysztof Matyjaszewski, PhD, from CMU is one of the leading figures in polymer chemistry world-wide and is a Director of Myris and active scientific advisor, co-founder Tonia Simakova, PhD, leads discovery research at Myris, and co-founder Alan Russell, PhD, currently VP of Large Molecule Discovery and Research Data Science at Amgen, is Chair of Myris' Scientific Advisory Board. The company's legacy programs are partnered and continue to advance rapidly towards the clinic. Pipeline success has allowed Myris to develop the technical capabilities needed to support the shift in focus to ultra-high DAR ADCs. Most notably, the lead program has been fully funded by the Department of Defense and has led to the successful nomination of a development candidate. 

Under Laura Benjamin's leadership, the team has been expanded to support the successful development of the ADC pipeline. Key advisors include biotech veteran Patrick Zweidler-McKay, MD, an experienced oncologist with over 11 years at MD Anderson, who spent 8 years developing ADCs at Immunogen before its acquisition by AbbVie, and decorated oncologist Pasi Janne, MD, currently Director for the Lowe Center for Thoracic Oncology at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Professor of Medicine at Harvard. In addition, the internal team has been strengthened by the addition of Becky Wolfe, a proven business and program leader in biopharma, as COO; Jeffrey S. Humphrey, MD, a seasoned industry oncologist, as CMO; and Bryant McLaughlin, PhD, an accomplished CMC scientist, as Head of CMC.

About Myris Therapeutics

Myris Therapeutics is a privately held life sciences biotech company with proprietary technology to enable ultra-high DAR ADCs by integrating traditional ADC engineering with next-generation polymer chemistry. Using their innovative platform technology, Myris is developing a pipeline of novel therapeutics for oncology. The company is headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA.

For more information, please visit https://myristx.com/ and follow the company on LinkedIn.

Contact:
Becky Wolfe, [email protected] 

SOURCE Myris Therapeutics, Inc.