Nuvec® research update

RNS Number : 6848I

N4 Pharma PLC

28 November 2018

 

28 November 2018

N4 Pharma Plc

("N4 Pharma" or the "Company")

Nuvec® research update and timings for further work

N4 Pharma Plc (AIM: N4P), the specialist pharmaceutical company developing a novel delivery system for vaccines and cancer treatments, today announces a further update on the latest key research findings for the Company's Nuvec® delivery system.

As announced on 29 October 2018, research undertaken to that date indicated that the Company's Nuvec® particles themselves have demonstrated a clear adjuvant effect to help deliver a level of immune response for both messenger RNA ("mRNA") and plasmid DNA ("pDNA")  encoded with the standard test antigen Ovalbumin ("OVA").

The Company has now undertaken further analysis of its pDNA OVA findings and demonstrated that the immune response observed was sufficient to have produced strong levels of antibodies specific for OVA.  A strong level of antibody production is essential for a vaccine to deliver immunity. The levels of antibodies produced were greater than those of in vivo-jetPEI®, an industry standard used to deliver pDNA-OVA in pre clinical studies. Furthermore, assessing the detailed classes of antibodies produced  has shown that Nuvec® delivers a strong robust level of the specific antibodies needed for effective oncology and virology vaccines.

The Company has also now manufactured one new large batch of particles for its EUNCL and Adelaide research work and will be shipping particles from this batch to the relevant parties shortly. The research for these programs will now commence fully in January 2019. EUNCL is expected to deliver results towards the end of Q3 2019. The first part of the Adelaide work will take 4 weeks and start in the new year, with results expected during Q1 2019.

Nigel Theobald, CEO of N4 Pharma commented:

"These results are once again another positive step forward for our Nuvec® delivery platform. The data now shows Nuvec® is capable of producing specific and relevant strong levels of antibodies required for the development of vaccines and cancer treatments.

"We will continue to provide updates as we add to our already encouraging data package to aid our commercial collaboaration discussions. The production of a robust data package using the test antigen Ovalbumin provides compelling evidence of the potential for Nuvec® to be an effective delivery system for a potential partner's specific DNA or RNA antigen. "

Enquiries:

N4 Pharma Plc Nigel Theobald, CEO	Via Alma PR
Allenby Capital Limited James Reeve/Asha Chotai	Tel: [phone]
Alma PR Josh Royston Robyn Fisher	Tel: [phone] Tel: [phone]

About N4 Pharma

N4 Pharma is a specialist pharmaceutical company developing a novel delivery system for vaccines and cancer treatments using its unique silica nanoparticle delivery system called Nuvec®.

Nuvec® has shown to be capable of loading and delivering mRNA and pDNA into cells to the required level needed to generate an immune response capable of strong antibody production. Further work will be undertaken for the direct loading and delivery of peptides and proteins using Nuvec®.

N4 Pharma's business model is to partner with companies developing novel antigens for vaccines and cancer treatments to use Nuvec® as the delivery vehicle to get their antigen into cells to express the protein needed for the required immunity. As these products progress through pre clinical and clinical programs, N4 Pharma will seek to receive up front payments, milestone payments and ultimately royalty payments once products reach the market.

Glossary:

Adjuvant: An immunological agent that is used in vaccines to help boost the immune response to produce more antibodies for longer lasting immunity.

 

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