Moleculin Requests FDA Meeting Regarding IND for New Cancer Drug

Testing confirms ability of WP1732 to target pancreatic cancer

HOUSTON, Nov. 15, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Moleculin Biotech, Inc., (Nasdaq: MBRX) (“Moleculin” or the “Company”), a clinical stage pharmaceutical company focused on the development of oncology drug candidates, all of which are based on license agreements with The University of Texas System on behalf of the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, today announced it has filed a request with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for a Pre-Investigational New Drug (IND) Meeting to seek FDA’s guidance and concurrence that the WP1732 development plan will meet requirements for an Initial IND filing and initiation of a proposed Phase 1 clinical trial.

“Independent animal model testing has now confirmed high uptake and retention of WP1732 in the pancreas,” commented Walter Klemp, Moleculin’s Chairman and CEO.  “Taken together with the previous observations of consistent activity against pancreatic cancer in in vitro and in vivo tumor models, this could make WP1732 ideally suited as a new therapy for treating pancreatic cancer.  Our  request for a Pre-IND Meeting with the FDA represents another important milestone in our effort to begin clinical trials with this promising new drug candidate.”

About Moleculin Biotech, Inc.

Moleculin Biotech, Inc. is a clinical stage pharmaceutical company focused on the development of oncology drug candidates, all of which are based on discoveries made at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. The Company’s clinical stage drugs are Annamycin, an anthracycline designed to avoid multidrug resistance mechanisms with little to no cardiotoxicity being studied for the treatment of relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia, more commonly referred to as AML, and WP1066, an immuno-stimulating STAT3 inhibitor targeting brain tumors, pancreatic cancer and AML. Moleculin Biotech is also engaged in preclinical development of additional drug candidates, including additional STAT3 inhibitors and compounds targeting the metabolism of tumors.

For more information about the Company, please visit http://www.moleculin.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Some of the statements in this release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which involve risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements in this press release include, without limitation, the ability of WP1732 to show safety and efficacy in patients. Although Moleculin Biotech believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable as of the date made, expectations may prove to have been materially different from the results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Moleculin Biotech has attempted to identify forward-looking statements by terminology including ”believes,” ”estimates,” ”anticipates,” ”expects,” ”plans,” ”projects,” ”intends,” ”potential,” ”may,” ”could,” ”might,” ”will,” ”should,” ”approximately” or other words that convey uncertainty of future events or outcomes to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements are only predictions and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors, including those discussed under Item 1A. “Risk Factors” in our most recently filed Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and updated from time to time in our Form 10-Q filings and in our other public filings with the SEC.  Any forward-looking statements contained in this release speak only as of its date. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this release to reflect events or circumstances occurring after its date or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

Contacts
Joe Dorame, Robert Blum or Joe Diaz
Lytham Partners, LLC
602-889-9700
[email protected]