Roquefort Therapeutics Presents Study Results at the ESGCT Conference

Abstract accepted at leading cell and gene therapy conference

Roquefort Therapeutics (LSE:ROQ, OTCQB:ROQAF), the Main Market listed biotech company focused on developing first in class medicines in the high value and high growth oncology market, is pleased to announce that the results of its anti-cancer RNA pre-clinical study will be presented later today at the 29^th European Society of Gene & Cell Therapy ("ESGCT") in Edinburgh. The results demonstrate for the first time that a splice switching RNA medicine can impair Midkine action by inducing a change in the Midkine mRNA, that not only reduces full length Midkine but also generates a non-functional shortened Midkine. Production of truncated Midkine has been shown to reduce the size of cancers in vivo and underpins the potential for anti-Midkine RNA medicines to treat cancer in patients.

The co-authors are Drs Cale and Aung-Htut and Professor Wilton from Murdoch University, and Dr Graham Robertson, Vice President of Drug Discovery, Roquefort Therapeutics.  The poster, number P482, is embargoed until the presentation at the conference but will then be available at the Roquefort Therapeutics website.

Further details of the event may be found on the ESGCT website:

https://www.esgctcongress.com/poster-list

Ajan Reginald, Chief Executive Officer, commented:

"Congratulations to the team on reaching this milestone and reporting the results at the ESGCT conference, Europe's leading cell and gene therapy scientific meeting.  RNA oligonucleotide-based medicines are an innovative new approach to treat the cancers that are resistant to existing drugs. At Roquefort Therapeutics, we are developing a portfolio of anti-cancer medicines to block some of the most novel cancer targets like Midkine and STAT-6. We have shown blocking these factors kills cancer cells.

For the first time, an RNA medicine has been shown to switch-off functional Midkine production in cancer cells. This proof-of-concept study highlights the potential for a new class of medicines blocking Midkine production to target some of the most difficult to treat cancers."