Pieris Announces Results and Successful Completion of its PRS-050 Anticalin Phase I Trial at AACR-EORTC-NCI Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics Conference

San Francisco, California (ots) -

--Results Establish Safety, Tolerability, Lack of Immunogenicity
and PK/PD Profile for First Anticalin in a Clinical Setting--

Pieris AG presented the results of the Company?s first clinical
evaluation of its most advanced Anticalin®, PRS-050, an anti-VEGF
targeted protein therapeutic, at the 2011 AACR-NCI-EORTC
International Conference held in San Francisco, California. The
dose-escalation trial investigated the recommended Phase II dose,
safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics (PK) and pharmacodynamics (PD)
of PRS-050 administered to patients with advanced solid tumors.
PRS-050 was well-tolerated, with no maximum tolerated dose reached,
while demonstrating biological activity and a complete lack of
immunogenicity, supporting further evaluation in a Phase II clinical
trial.

"The Phase I results not only confirm the safety and tolerability
of PRS-050, but also are indicative of an attractive safety profile
for Anticalins generally," said Dr. Laurent Audoly, Chief Scientific
Officer for Pieris AG. "Moreover, the results of our PK/PD strategy
provide human data supporting the robustness of our drug platform.
The Anticalin approach, which in this case, plays on monovalent
target engagement, small size and the lack of an effector function,
is well-suited for a biobetter VEGF-targeted therapeutic protein
approach to treat several types of cancer."

The Phase I clinical trial of PRS-050 was conducted in 26 patients
with advanced solid tumors as an open-label, dose-escalating
evaluation of the compound's safety, tolerability, and PK/PD profile.
The protein drug exhibited a half-life of six days, there was no
immunogenicity (no anti-drug antibodies) observed across all cohorts
and multiple dose-dependent PD effects were obtained. PRS-050 is an
anti-VEGF (Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor) 40 kD PEGylated
Anticalin discovered and developed internally at the company. VEGF
has a well-defined role in cancer angiogenesis, which is the
mechanism by which cancer tumors increase blood vessel development at
the tumor site and thereby enable further growth. The compound began
the clinical trial at three different sites in Germany during the
first half of 2010.

The results were presented on Sunday, November 13th, 2011 at the
American Association Cancer Researchers-National Cancer
Institute-European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer
International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer
Therapeutics: Discovery, Biology and Clinical Applications is taking
place November 12-16, 2011 at the Moscone Center West in San
Francisco, California.

Anticalins are therapeutic proteins derived from human lipocalins,
rationally engineered to solve for the pharmacological and
pharmaceutical limitations of both protein and non-protein based drug
platforms.

About Pieris AG

Pieris AG is an independent, clinical-staged biotechnology company
advancing its proprietary Anticalin® technology to create
differentiated drugs that are safer and more effective than
conventional approaches. 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 across a
range of therapeutic areas. The company has four ongoing discovery
and development collaborations: Daiichi Sankyo, Takeda San Francisco,
the Sanofi Group and Allergan. 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 further information, please contact:
Dr. Laurent Audoly, CSO Pieris AG or Gretchen Schweitzer
+49 172 861 8540 media@pieris-ag.com

Further information is available at www.pieris-ag.com

Anticalin®, Anticalins® are registered trademarks of Pieris AG.