siRNA update

RNS Number : 4804W

N4 Pharma PLC

18 April 2023

 

18 April 2023

N4 Pharma Plc

("N4 Pharma" or the "Company")

siRNA update

N4 Pharma Plc (AIM: N4P), the specialist pharmaceutical company developing Nuvec®, a novel delivery system for cancer treatments and vaccines, is pleased to provide an update on its ongoing siRNA research work.

The Company has completed the single loading of both the EGFR and BCL-2 siRNA nucleotides onto Nuvec and has produced good monodisperse formulations at all doses to be investigated. The single loaded EGFR siRNA has shown strong silencing of the EGFR gene with a good dose response curve established which has allowed the Company to identify the dose it can take into the single loaded EGFR in vivo study.

The next step for EGFR is to measure cell apoptosis to show a relevant in vitro clinical effect.

Supply of siRNA is only available from a few sources and supply issues means the Company is still establishing the BCL-2 assay to be used for the in vitro testing. An initial effect has been seen but to complete the dose response curve more material is needed to fully establish the assay and determine the doses to move into the single loaded in vivo work and double loaded experiments.

The Company has also established the growth curve of the xenograft tumour model to be used, so once the BCL-2 in vitro work is complete, the Company will be ready to start the in vivo studies, as long as supply of the siRNA is not further interrupted.

Nigel Theobald, Chief Executive Officer of the Company, commented:

"We are very pleased with the EGFR results which show excellent knockdown of the siRNA along with a very clear dose response curve and believe this shows how well suited Nuvec® is for working with siRNA."

Enquiries:

N4 Pharma Plc Nigel Theobald, CEO Luke Cairns, Executive Director	Via IFC Advisory
SP Angel Corporate Finance LLP Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker Matthew Johnson/Kasia Brzozowska (Corporate Finance) Vadim Alexandre/Rob Rees (Corporate Broking)	Tel: + 44 (0)20 3470 0470
Turner Pope Investments (TPI) Limited Joint Broker Andy Thacker IFC Advisory Limited Financial PR Graham Herring Zach Cohen	Tel: [phone] Tel: [phone]

Glossary

siRNA: silencingRNA / short interfering RNA

Nucleotides: organic molecules composed of a nitrogenous base, a pentose sugar and a phosphate.

EGFR: epidermal growth factor receptor, is found on the surface of some normal cells and is involved in cell growth. It may also be found at high levels on some types of cancer cells, which causes these cells to grow and divide.

Bcl -2: (B-cell lymphoma 2), encoded in humans by the BCL2 gene, is the founding member of the Bcl-2 family of regulator proteins that regulate cell death.

Monodisperse: (of a colloid) containing particles of uniform size.

Xenograft tumour model: in vivo model where human tumour cells are grown to form a tumour.

Cell apoptosis: the process of programmed cell death.

About N4 Pharma

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

N4 Pharma's business model is to partner with companies developing novel antigens for cancer and vaccine 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 upfront payments, milestone payments and ultimately royalty payments once products reach the market.

 

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