Pieris Receives BMBF Grant to Fund PRS-110 c-Met Antagonist Anticalin® Program / Grant Supports Personalized Anti-cancer Approach on Path to Clinic

Freising, Germany (ots) - Pieris AG announced today the receipt of
a EUR 1 million grant to support the development of the company's
proprietary PRS-110 compound targeting c-Met, a cellular receptor
that plays a key role in cancer cell growth and metastasis. The goal
of the funded research will be to delineate a biomarker strategy for
early clinical development and to aid in the progression of a
personalized medicine approach with PRS-110.

"This grant represents a validation of PRS-110's potential as a
powerful targeted cancer therapeutic and recognizes the progress we
have achieved in moving the program closer to the clinic," stated
Stephen Yoder, Chief Executive Officer of Pieris. "We believe we
have developed a 'best in class' drug candidate that rivals other
advanced targeted therapies addressing the c-Met pathway based on
PRS-110's monovalent mode of target engagement and positive
developability profile."

Mr. Yoder added that Pieris has been invited to present
preclinical results for PRS-110 at the upcoming American Association
for Cancer Research (AACR) Annual Meeting being held March 31 to
April 4, 2012.

The PRS-110 grant is made possible by the BMBF (Bundesministerium
für Bildung und Forschung or German Federal Ministry for Education
and Research) Leading Edge Cluster program, which endows grants
totaling up to EUR 200 million. The Munich Biotech Cluster, a winner
of the BMBF's Cluster Competition in 2010, has brought together a
consortium of biomedical companies and academic institutions under
the objective: "m4 - Personalized Medicine and Targeted
Therapeutics". The grant, managed by BioM, will match Pieris'
funding of the PRS-110 project by underwriting the company's internal
efforts and collaborative research from additional companies and
academic institutions.

"Based on the strengths of companies like Pieris, we are
developing the vision of the Munich Biotech Cluster as a model region
for personalized and target-oriented medicine," commented Prof. Dr.
Horst Domdey, Managing Director of BioM GmbH. "The BMBF's Cluster
grants will have a rapid effect on driving the success of innovation
not only by providing funding, but also by encouraging collaborations
between the leading companies and scientists in the area."

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

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 lead compound, PRS-050 (anti-VEGF, oncology)
that recently completed a Phase I clinical trial, to multiple
Anticalins in preclinical development across a range of therapeutic
areas. To date, the company has signed four 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.

About Munich Biotech Cluster

The m4 Leading Edge Cluster is a joint biotech initiative across
Greater Munich that pools the strengths of hospitals and scientific
institutes, biotech and pharmaceutical companies and the cluster
management company BioM.



Contact:
Stephen Yoder,
CEO Pieris AG

or

Gretchen Schweitzer
+49 172 861 8540
media@pieris-ag.com

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

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

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