Research by top universities together with Oncopeptides on NK cell engagers to be presented at ASH
Stockholm – November 3, 2025 – Oncopeptides AB (publ) (Nasdaq Stockholm: ONCO), a biotech company focused on difficult-to-treat cancers, today announces that a collaborative study within the Eurostars funded project NKENGAGE has been accepted as a poster and will be presented at the 67th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition, taking place in San Diego, California, between December 6–9, 2025.
The study, entitled “Ex vivo Expanded Adaptive NK Cells in Combination with a Bispecific NK Cell Engager Targeting BCMA for Synergistic Control of Multiple Myeloma,” explores an innovative approach to harness natural killer (NK) cells for the treatment of multiple myeloma. The research, led by Oslo University Hospital, Karolinska Institutet, KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Turku based CRO Pharmatest Services, together with Oncopeptides, evaluates the combination of an optimized affibody-derived bispecific NK cell engager targeting CD16a on NK cells and BCMA on multiple myeloma cells, together with ADAPT-NK, an off-the-shelf adaptive NK cell product.
In preclinical models, the combination demonstrated synergistic anti-myeloma activity, efficient tumor cell lysis, and reduced cytokine release compared to existing T-cell-based strategies, supporting the potential of this new modality as a novel immunotherapeutic approach for relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma.
“These results illustrate the significant potential of NK cell–based immunotherapies to overcome some of the challenges associated with current T cell–directed approaches,” says Prof. Karl-Johan Malmberg, Department of Cancer Immunology, Oslo University Hospital. “By combining adaptive NK cells with a bispecific NK cell engager, we demonstrate how innate immune mechanisms can be harnessed to achieve effective and well-tolerated anti-tumor responses in multiple myeloma.”
Oncopeptides is advancing a new generation of NK cell-based immunotherapies through its proprietary SPiKE platform (Small Polypeptide-based innate Killer Engagers). The platform is designed to redirect NK cells toward cancer cells with high precision, aiming to deliver potent anti-tumor activity while minimizing the toxicities often associated with T-cell directed therapies.
“We are proud to see our collaboration within the NKENGAGE consortium recognized at ASH,” says Stefan Norin, Chief Medical Officer at Oncopeptides. “These findings highlight the potential of combining affibody-derived NK cell engagers with allogeneic NK cells to address the unmet needs in multiple myeloma and further expand Oncopeptides’ expertise beyond peptide–drug conjugates.”
ASH is the world’s largest professional society dedicated to hematologic research and clinical practice, attracting over 25,000 attendees annually.
The abstract including key data has been published and is available through this link.
Title
Ex vivo Expanded Adaptive NK Cells in Combination with a Bispecific NK Cell Engager Targeting BCMA for Synergistic Control of Multiple Myeloma
Authors
Thorstein Boxaspen et al.
Publication Number
abs25-6133
Program
Oral and Poster Abstracts
Time
Saturday, December 6, 05:30 PM – 07:30 PM EST
Session
Presentation id: 2354
Session: 703. Cellular Immunotherapies other than CAR-T Cells: Basic and Translational: Poster I
For more information, please contact:
David Augustsson, Director of IR and Communications, Oncopeptides AB (publ)
E-mail: ir@oncopeptides.com
Cell phone: +46 76 229 38 68
About Oncopeptides
Oncopeptides is a Swedish biotech company focusing on research, development and commercialization of targeted therapies for difficult-to-treat cancers.
The company uses its proprietary Peptide Drug Conjugate platform (PDC) to develop compounds that rapidly and selectively deliver cytotoxic agents into cancer cells. Its flagship drug is currently being commercialized in Europe with partnership agreements for South Korea, the Middle East and Africa and elsewhere.
Oncopeptides is also developing several new compounds based on its two proprietary technology platforms PDC and SPiKE.
The company was founded in 2000, has about 80 employees with operations in Sweden, Germany, Austria, Spain and Italy. Oncopeptides is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm with the ticker ONCO.
For more information see: www.oncopeptides.com
About Pepaxti
Pepaxti® (melphalan flufenamide, also called melflufen) has been granted Marketing Authorization, in the European Union, the EEA-countries Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway, as well as in the UK. Pepaxti is indicated in combination with dexamethasone for the treatment of adult patients with multiple myeloma who have received at least three prior lines of therapies, whose disease is refractory to at least one proteasome inhibitor, one immunomodulatory agent, and one anti-CD38 monoclonal antibody, and who have demonstrated disease progression on or after the last therapy. For patients with a prior autologous stem cell transplantation, the time to progression should be at least 3 years from transplantation.
