Mural Oncology Launches to Advance Pipeline of Novel Engineered Cytokine Immunotherapies

Mural Oncology plc recently launched as an independent, publicly traded, clinical-stage immuno-oncology company leveraging its core competencies in immune cell modulation and protein engineering to develop novel, investigational engineered cytokine therapies designed to address areas of unmet need for patients with a variety of cancers. Mural’s ordinary shares will begin trading on the Nasdaq Global Market on November 16, under the ticker symbol MURA.

“Immunotherapies have made a tremendous impact on the treatment of cancers over the past decade,” said Caroline Loew, PhD, the company’s Chief Executive Officer. “Unfortunately, many patients either do not respond or do not have durable responses. We believe Mural Oncology can lead the future of immunotherapies for patients. Our protein engineering expertise allows us to reimagine the development of pro-inflammatory cytokine-based therapeutics that could address the key limitations with current cancer immunotherapies. I am thrilled to lead this company and am energized by the enormous potential of our lead clinical candidate, our preclinical programs, and our underlying protein engineering capabilities.”

Mural Oncology’s pipeline is built to address difficult-to-treat tumor types where checkpoint inhibitors are not effective. The Company’s lead product candidate, nemvaleukin alfa (nemvaleukin), is an investigational, engineered interleukin-2 (IL-2) cytokine designed to capture and expand the therapeutic benefits of high-dose recombinant human IL-2 (rhIL-2), while mitigating the hallmark toxicities of native IL-2 in difficult-to-treat cancers with high unmet need. Nemvaleukin is currently in two potentially registrational studies: one for the treatment of mucosal melanoma as a monotherapy and one for the treatment of platinum-resistant ovarian cancer (PROC) in combination with pembrolizumab.

In addition to nemvaleukin, Mural Oncology has discovery-stage programs in IL-18 and IL-12, focused on proinflammatory cytokines that leverage the Company’s immune cell modulation expertise and protein engineering capabilities. This multi-faceted approach to cytokine engineering is aimed at maximizing the utility of identified cytokines and includes binding selectivity, tumor-targeting, half-life modification, and stable fusion proteins.

“We believe nemvaleukin has the potential to reduce native IL-2’s toxicities, potentially allowing greater tolerability and efficacy than other IL-2 molecules have shown in the past,” Dr. Loew continued. “We plan to report top-line results in each of mucosal melanoma and PROC in the first quarter of 2025 and declare product candidates across both of our other discovery-stage programs in 2024. We are building on years of foundational work from which our engineered cytokines may lead to new therapies for significant patient populations where checkpoint inhibitors either failed to achieve a response or produced a limited response. We believe these new therapies could be effective either as monotherapies or in combination with a range of other therapeutics.”

To advance the company’s pipeline and capitalize on its protein engineering capabilities, Mural has assembled an experienced and highly accomplished executive team and board of directors.

Mural Oncology is leveraging its industry-leading protein engineering platform to revolutionize cytokine-based immunotherapies for the treatment of cancer. Our expertise in cytokine biology and immune cell modulation and our unmatched protein engineering will enable us to develop medicines that deliver meaningful and clinical benefits to people living with cancer. Our mission is to broaden the potential and reach of cytokine-based immunotherapies to improve the lives of patients. Mural Oncology has its registered office in Dublin, Ireland, and its primary facilities in Waltham, MA. For more information, visit www.muraloncology.com.