This Amendment No. 5 (“Amendment No. 5”) to Schedule 13D supplements and amends the Statement on Schedule 13D of OrbiMed Advisors LLC and OrbiMed Capital GP III LLC (the “Statement”) originally filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on July 9, 2015 with Samuel D. Isaly as an additional reporting person, and amended by Amendment No. 1 thereto filed with the SEC on July 12, 2016, Amendment No. 2 thereto filed with the SEC on January 5, 2018, Amendment No. 3 on January 25, 2018 and Amendment No. 4 on February 21, 2018.  The Statement relates to the common stock, par value $0.001 per share (the “Shares”), of Pieris Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a corporation organized under the laws of Nevada (the “Issuer”), with its principal executive offices located at 255 State Street, 9th Floor, Boston, MA 02109. The Shares are listed on the NASDAQ Global Market under the ticker symbol “PIRS”. Information given in response to each item shall be deemed incorporated by reference in all other items, as applicable.

(a)            This Statement is being filed by OrbiMed Advisors LLC (“Advisors”), a limited liability company organized under the laws of Delaware, and OrbiMed Capital GP III LLC (“GP III”), a limited liability company organized under the laws of Delaware (collectively, the “Reporting Persons”).

 

(b) – (c), (f)   Advisors, a registered investment adviser under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended, is the sole general partner of OrbiMed Associates III, LP (“Associates III”) and the sole managing member of GP III, which is the sole general partner of OrbiMed Private Investments III, LP (“OPI III”).  OPI III and Associates III hold Shares as described herein.  Advisors, GP III has its principal offices at 601 Lexington Avenue, 54th Floor, New York, New York 10022.

 

The directors and executive officers of Advisors and GP III are set forth on Schedules I and II, attached hereto.  Schedules I and II set forth the following information with respect to each such person:

 

    

    

    

 

(d) – (e)   During the last five years, neither the Reporting Persons nor any Person named in Schedule I or II have been (i) convicted in a criminal proceeding (excluding traffic violations or similar misdemeanors) or (ii) a party to a civil proceeding of a judicial or administrative body of competent jurisdiction and as a result of such proceeding was or is subject to a judgment, decree or final order enjoining future violations of, or prohibiting or mandating activities subject to, federal or state securities laws or finding any violation with respect to such laws.

Item 4.

Purpose of Transaction

 

This Amendment No. 5 to the Statement relates to the transactions by the Reporting Persons more fully described in Item 5 below. The Shares initially had been acquired by the Reporting Persons for the purpose of making an investment in the Issuer and not with the intention of acquiring control of the Issuer’s business.

 

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The Reporting Persons from time to time intend to review their investment in the Issuer on the basis of various factors, including the Issuer’s business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects, general economic and industry conditions, the securities markets in general and those for the Issuer’s common stock in particular, as well as other developments and other investment opportunities.  Based upon such review, the Reporting Persons will take such actions in the future as the Reporting Persons may deem appropriate in light of the circumstances existing from time to time.  If the Reporting Persons believe that further investment in the Issuer is attractive, whether because of the market price of the common stock or otherwise, they may acquire Shares or other securities of the Issuer either in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions.  Similarly, depending on market and other factors, the Reporting Persons may determine to dispose of some or all of the Shares currently owned by the Reporting Persons or otherwise acquired by the Reporting Persons either in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions.

 

Except as set forth in this Statement, the Reporting Persons have not formulated any plans or proposals which relate to or would result in: (a) the acquisition by any person of additional securities of the Issuer or the disposition of securities of the Issuer, (b) an extraordinary corporate transaction, such as a merger, reorganization or liquidation, involving the Issuer or any of its subsidiaries, (c) a sale or transfer of a material amount of the assets of the Issuer or any of its subsidiaries, (d) any change in the present Board of Directors or management of the Issuer, including any plans or proposals to change the number or term of directors or to fill any existing vacancies on the board, (e) any material change in the Issuer’s capitalization or dividend policy of the Issuer, (f) any other material change in the Issuer’s business or corporate structure, (g) any change in the Issuer’s charter or bylaws or other instrument corresponding thereto or other action which may impede the acquisition of control of the Issuer by any person, (h) causing a class of the Issuer’s securities to be deregistered or delisted from a national securities exchange or to cease to be authorized to be quoted in an inter-dealer quotation system of a registered national securities association, (i) a class of equity securities of the Issuer becoming eligible for termination of registration pursuant to Section 12(g)(4) of the Act or (j) any action similar to any of those enumerated above.

(a) – (b)          As of the date of this filing, the Reporting Persons may be deemed, for purposes of Rule 13d-3 of the Act, directly or indirectly, including by reason of their mutual affiliation, to be the beneficial owners of the Shares.  Based upon information contained in the Issuer’s Form 10-K filed with the SEC on March 15, 2018, such Shares deemed to be indirectly beneficially owned by GP III constitutes approximately 8.38% of the issued and outstanding Shares, and such Shares deemed to be indirectly beneficially owned by Advisors constitutes approximately 8.45% of the issued and outstanding Shares.  Advisors, pursuant to its authority as the sole managing member of GP III, which is the sole general partner of OPI III, and as the sole general partner of Associates III, may be deemed to indirectly beneficially own the Shares held by OPI III and Associates IIII.  GP III, pursuant to its authority as the general partner of OPI III, may be deemed to indirectly beneficially own the Shares held by OPI III.   As a result, Advisors and GP III share the power to direct the vote and the disposition of the Shares held by OPI III described in Item 6 below, and Advisors has the power to direct the vote and the disposition of the Shares held by Associates III.  Advisors exercises this investment and voting power through a management committee comprised of Carl L. Gordon, Sven H. Borho and Jonathan T. Silverstein, each of whom disclaims beneficial ownership of the Shares held by OPI III and Associates III.

(c)

          

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* The Shares were sold in a block order at a price of $6.35 (April 30, 2018).

 

Except as disclosed above, the Reporting Persons have not effected any transactions in the Shares during the past sixty (60) days.

 

(d)          Not applicable.

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(e)          Not applicable.

 

Exhibit 1 - Joint Filing Agreement among OrbiMed Advisors LLC and OrbiMed Capital GP III LLC.

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 Schedule I

 

The name and present principal occupation of each of the executive officers and directors of OrbiMed Advisors LLC are set forth below.  Unless otherwise noted, each of these persons are United States citizens and have as their business address 601 Lexington Avenue, 54th Floor, New York, NY 10022.

 

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