Exhibit 99.1
![LOGO](https://capedge.com/proxy/8-K/0001193125-23-060671/g477171dsp5a.jpg)
Kineta to Host Key Opinion Leader Event on KVA12123: VISTA as an Immuno-Oncology Target
SEATTLE, March 6, 2023 — Kineta, Inc. (Nasdaq: KA), a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on developing next-generation immunotherapies to address cancer immune resistance, announced today it will host a virtual Key Opinion Leader (KOL) event on VISTA as an immuno-oncology target on Monday, March 20, 2023 at 10:00 AM ET.
The event will feature immunology expert Michael A. Curran, PhD (MD Anderson Cancer Center Department of Immunology) who will discuss challenges in the current immuno-oncology landscape, along with the potential for VISTA blocking immunotherapy to address the problem of immunosuppression in the tumor microenvironment (TME), followed by a Fireside Chat with clinical oncology expert Patricia LoRusso, DO (Yale School of Medicine Cancer Center) on conducting clinical trials with novel immunotherapies to treat cancer.
Kineta’s leadership will provide an update on its lead program KVA12123, a novel anti-VISTA monoclonal antibody, as a treatment for patients with advanced solid tumors. Kineta recently initiated a Phase 1/Phase 2 clinical study to investigate KVA12123 alone and in combination with pembrolizumab, Merck’s anti-PD-1 therapy. A live question and answer session will follow the formal presentations.
To register for the event, please click here.
Michael A. Curran, PhD, received a PhD in Immunology from Stanford University where he was awarded the McDevitt prize for the best graduate thesis in his year. Dr. Curran was the first recipient of the prestigious American Cancer Society Levy Fellowship to fund his post-doctoral studies in the lab of Dr. James P. Allison. While pursuing his postdoctoral studies at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, Dr. Curran published several influential manuscripts describing how T cell co-stimulatory pathways could be modulated in tandem to mediate immunologic rejection of melanomas in mice. Dr. Curran was the first to describe how combination blockade of the T cell co-inhibitory receptors CTLA-4 and PD-1 promoted the rejection of a majority of murine melanomas – a combination that remains the most effective FDA-approved immunotherapy.
Patricia LoRusso, DO, is a Professor of Medicine (Medical Oncology) and Associate Cancer Center Director of Experimental Therapeutics at the Yale Cancer Center. She previously served in numerous leadership roles at Wayne State University’s Barbara Karmanos Cancer Institute, most recently as director of the Phase I Clinical Trials Program and of the Eisenberg Center for Experimental Therapeutics. Dr. LoRusso has served as co-chair of the NCI Cancer Therapy Evaluation Program Investigational Drug Steering Committee. She also served on the scientific committee of the AACR, and the education and scientific committees of ASCO. She is a former editor of Investigational New Drugs, is currently on the editorial board for Clinical Cancer Research and is a reviewer for several journals.