NEW YORK, Dec. 10, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Y-mAbs Therapeutics, Inc. (the “Company” or “Y-mAbs”) (Nasdaq: YMAB) a late-stage clinical biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel, antibody-based therapeutic products for the treatment of cancer announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) has cleared the Investigational New Drug (“IND”) application for a humanized bispecific GD2 antibody. It is anticipated that a Phase 1/2 clinical trial will soon be initiated to begin screening patients with relapsed/refractory neuroblastoma, high grade osteosarcoma and other GD2(+) solid tumors, where patients have relapsed or refractory disease that is resistant to standard therapy.

This bispecific product candidate is a fully humanized IgG-scFv format antibody, licensed by Memorial Sloan Kettering to Y-mAbs, in which the anti-CD3 scFv is linked to naxitamab IgG1 and the Fc region is mutated to help prevent cytokine release as well as complement-mediated pain side effects. Y-mAbs expects that this bispecific GD2 antibody may have potential advantages over other bispecific antibodies, such as improved potency due to bivalency, binding to neonatal Fc receptor and longer serum half-life, which obviates continuous infusion and enables more convenient administration to the patient.

Y-mAbs Founder, President and Head of Business Development and Strategy, Thomas Gad said, “This is a novel bivalent tumor targeting bispecific antibody for the treatment of GD2 positive solid tumors in both pediatric and adult cancers. We believe that these bispecific antibodies have the potential to overcome many of the limitations associated with existing bispecific constructs.”

Dr. Claus Møller, Chief Executive Officer further notes, “I am excited to see this bispecific antibody make its way towards the clinic, to establish the safety profile and to determine the maximum tolerated dose.”

About Y-mAbs:

Y-mAbs is a late-stage clinical biopharmaceutical company focused on the development and commercialization of novel, antibody-based therapeutic products for the treatment of cancer. The Company has a broad and advanced product pipeline, including two pivotal-stage product candidates—naxitamab and omburtamab—which target tumors that express GD2 and B7-H3, respectively.

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Source: Y-mAbs Therapeutics, Inc