Endocyte Announces Presentations at American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2017

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., March 27, 2017 -- Endocyte, Inc. (NASDAQ:ECYT), a leader in developing targeted small molecule drug conjugates (SMDCs) and companion imaging agents for personalized therapy, today announced that eight posters will be presented by Endocyte scientists at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting 2017 to be held in Washington, DC, April 1 - 5, 2017.

Key presentations during the meeting include a late-breaking poster presentation of new research from investigators and faculty at the Purdue University Center for Drug Discovery on the application of Endocyte's SMDC technology in a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) therapy setting. Additionally, the company will present several posters with preclinical data relating to Endocyte’s SMDC technology, including developments in combination therapies and novel proPBD warheads.

The presentation materials will be available on Endocyte’s website following presentation at the conference.

Presentations are as follows:

About Endocyte's SMDC Bi-Specific Adaptors

Endocyte's SMDC bi-specific adaptors represent a novel approach that makes possible the engineering of a single universal CAR T-cell, designed to bind with high affinity to fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC).  This universal CAR T-cell can be specifically directed to cancer cells through the administration of a tumor targeted FITC-containing SMDC, known as a bi-specific adaptor that acts to bridge the universal CAR T-cell with the cancer cells to cause localized T-cell activation.  This approach has been shown pre-clinically to address three key CAR T-cell issues by: (i) avoiding hyper-activation of CAR T-cells leading to a cytokine storm, (ii) enabling termination of CAR T-cell activity upon eradication of the tumor, and (iii) potentially enabling elimination of all cancer cells in heterogeneous solid tumors.  In March 2017, Endocyte entered into a research collaboration with Seattle Children's Research Institute and Dr. Michael Jensen for the development of Endocyte's SMDC platform in the chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR T-cell) immunotherapy setting through the use of Endocyte's proprietary SMDC bi-specific adaptor molecules.

About Endocyte

Endocyte is a biopharmaceutical company and leader in developing targeted therapies for the treatment of cancer and other serious diseases.  Endocyte uses its proprietary drug conjugation technology to create novel SMDCs and companion imaging agents for personalized targeted therapies.  The company's SMDCs actively target receptors that are over-expressed on diseased cells, relative to healthy cells.  This targeted approach is designed to enable the treatment of patients with highly active drugs at greater doses, delivered more frequently and over longer periods of time than would be possible with the untargeted drug alone.  The companion imaging agents are designed to identify patients whose disease over-expresses the target of the therapy and who are therefore more likely to benefit from treatment. For additional information, please visit Endocyte's website at www.endocyte.com.

Contacts:
Stephanie Ascher, Stern Investor Relations, Inc., (212) 362-1200, [email protected]