Takeda San Francisco and Pieris Sign Anticalin® Therapeutic Collaboration

San Francisco, USA and Freising, Germany (ots) - Takeda San
Francisco (TSF) and Pieris AG have signed a drug discovery
partnership agreement under which Pieris will apply its Anticalin®
scaffold technology to deliver protein therapeutic candidates to
Takeda, both companies announced today. The deal initially will
focus on first-in-class drug discovery efforts around a predetermined
Takeda target. The collaboration includes an option for expansion
following delivery of a successful candidate to Takeda, which would
lead subsequent development and commercial efforts. Further deal
terms and financial details were not disclosed.

"TSF?s mandate is to lead Takeda?s effort in the discovery and
preclinical development of antibody-based therapeutics. Pieris?
Anticalin technology complements our existing capabilities by
enabling a novel approach to targets where differentiation from
traditional antibodies is required,? stated Dr. Mary Haak-Frendscho,
President and CSO of TSF. "The technology provides unique features
that made Pieris the obvious partner.?

"Our agreement with Takeda demonstrates yet again that Anticalins
can fill gaps left by more conventional technologies such as
monoclonal antibodies,? added Stephen Yoder, CEO of Pieris. "Pieris
is committed to maintaining an effective balance between developing
our internal therapeutic pipeline and collaborating with world-class
organizations like Takeda.?

Pieris? proprietary Anticalin technology platform creates next
generation targeted therapeutics and addresses targets in ways that
traditional methods cannot. Anticalins are recombinantly engineered
lipocalins, endogenous low-molecular weight human proteins that
naturally bind, store and transport a wide spectrum of molecules. To
obtain a specific Anticalin, Pieris applies its deep protein
engineering know-how to select drug candidates from its suite of
rationally designed proprietary Anticalin libraries.

About Takeda San Francisco, Inc. Takeda San Francisco, Inc. (TSF),
established in November 2007 as a wholly owned subsidiary of Takeda
Pharmaceutical Company Limited, Osaka, Japan, is Takeda?s Biologics
Center of Excellence and Antibody IND Engine for human antibody
therapeutics for the treatment of cancer, inflammation and metabolic
diseases. TSF supports Takeda?s therapeutic antibody initiative in
close collaboration with Takeda?s other R&D organizations. Additional
information about Takeda San Francisco is available at
http://www.takedasf.com.

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About Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, Limited Located in Osaka,
Japan, Takeda is a research based global company with its main focus
on pharmaceuticals. As the largest pharmaceutical company in Japan
and one of the global leaders of the industry, Takeda is committed to
striving toward better health for patients worldwide through leading
innovation in medicine. Additional information about Takeda is
available through its corporate website, http://www.takeda.com.

About Pieris Pieris AG is an independent, clinical-staged
biotechnology company advancing its proprietary Anticalin? technology
to create safer, more efficacious and more convenient protein
therapeutics. Exclusive to Pieris, Anticalin-based drugs promise to
address high-unmet medical needs and expand the therapeutic potential
of current targeted approaches. Pieris? pipeline ranges from its
Phase I compound, PRS-050 (anti-VEGF, oncology), to multiple
Anticalins in preclinical development. In addition to Takeda, the
company has a multi-year, multi-target collaboration with
Sanofi-Aventis and Sanofi Pasteur, the vaccines division of the
sanofi-aventis Group (EURONEXT: SAN and NYSE: SNY), and an agreement
with Allergan, Inc. (NYSE: AGN), focusing on novel treatments for eye
diseases. Privately held, Pieris has been funded by premier
biotechnology-focused venture capital, including lead investors
OrbiMed Advisors and Global Life Science Ventures. For more
information, please visit: www.pieris-ag.com.

For more information, please contact
For Pieris:
Stephen Yoder
Chief Executive Officer
Tel: +49 (0) 8161-1411-400

or

Kari Watson
MacDougall Biomedical Communications
Tel: +1-781-235-3060

For Takeda San Francisco:
Patricia Sinatra
Corporate Communications and Public Relations
285 E. Grand Avenue
South San Francisco, CA 94080
Tel: +1-650-745-9486