Defence Therapeutics Collaboration Agreement with Orano to Develop the Next Generation of Targeted Radio-Immunotherapy for Cancer Advances

Vancouver, British Columbia–(Newsfile Corp. – August 13, 2024) – Defence Therapeutics Inc. (CSE: DTC) (OTCQB: DTCFF) (FSE: DTC) (“Defence” or the “Company”), a Canadian biopharmaceutical company developing novel immune-oncology vaccines and drug delivery technologies, is please to give an update on its Orano Support SAS partnership in the radiopharmaceuticals field, on behalf of Orano SAS (“Orano”), a world-renowned multinational nuclear company, headquartered in France.

Defence is developing in collaboration with Orano Support SAS, a novel Radio-Immuno-Conjugate (“RIC”), which includes an antibody to deliver the radioactivity specifically to cancer cells, a chelating agent linked to the radionuclide and specific Defence’s Accum^® variants, resulting in increasing the efficacy to treat cancers. The objective of this project is to develop the next generation of RIC exploiting the therapeutic dependency of Auger electron (“AE”) emitter elements in closer proximity to nuclear DNA when combined with Defence’s Accum^® technology to induce its nuclear accumulation. AE emitters are very promising radionuclides for RIC development because of their very short pathlength radiation energy deposition, which decreases radiotoxicity on healthy tissues.

The Accum^® moiety can overcome major limitations of RIC e.g. endosomal sequestration and poor nuclear accumulation, by destroying endosome membrane without affecting the plasma membrane nor mAbs specificity and by forcing the nuclear re-localization of the RIC. Defence has developed a multitude of Accum® variants with different biochemical properties and activities such as hydrophobicity and cytotoxicity.

Presently, no cancer treatment uses this type of radionuclides in RIC formulation due to the lack of efficacy induced by their endosomal entrapment and their dependency to be close to nuclear DNA. Defence’s objective is to efficiently treat cancers with the potential of opening a new cancer therapy market based on a very promising radiotherapeutics implicating AE emitter radionuclides.

Defence has completed the conceptualization of the Accum^® variant peptides and secure their production/manufacturing. Defence has showed and patented that some Accum^® variants can be conjugated to an antibody or an antibody-conjugate to deliver it inside the nucleus. Defence is also pleased to have secured the in vitro and in vivo preclinical studies to be performed by the radiopharmaceuticals scientific team at the Canadian Nuclear Laboratories.

About Defence:

Defence Therapeutics is a publicly-traded clinical-stage biotechnology company working on engineering the next generation vaccines and ADC products using its proprietary platform. The core of Defence Therapeutics platform is the ACCUM^® technology, which enables precision delivery of vaccine antigens or ADCs in their intact form to target cells. As a result, increased efficacy and potency can be reached against catastrophic illness such as cancer and infectious diseases.

About Orano

As a recognized international operator in the field of nuclear materials, Orano delivers solutions to address present and future global energy and health challenges. Its expertise and mastery of cutting-edge technologies enable Orano to offer its customers high value-added products and services throughout the entire fuel cycle. Every day, the Orano group’s 17,000 employees draw on their skills, unwavering dedication to safety and constant quest for innovation, with the commitment to develop know-how in the transformation and control of nuclear materials, for the climate and for a healthy and resource-efficient world, now and tomorrow.

Orano, giving nuclear energy its full value. Orano looks continuously at opportunities to value material derived from its core nuclear energy activities in a sustainable approach. Nuclear medicine therapy is one of the currently explored strand realized with the production of lead-212 (a rare radioisotope used for targeted alpha therapy) and clinical studies underway. Orano aims to further strengthen its development in the medical field and complete its pipeline with new promising radioisotopes.

Further information can be found at: https://www.orano.group.

Cautionary Statement Regarding “Forward-Looking” Information

This release includes certain statements that may be deemed “forward-looking statements”. All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that the Company expects to occur, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words “expects”, “plans”, “anticipates”, “believes”, “intends”, “estimates”, “projects”, “potential” and similar expressions, or that events or conditions “will”, “would”, “may”, “could” or “should” occur. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include regulatory actions, market prices, and continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company’s management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management’s beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.

Neither the CSE nor its market regulator, as that term is defined in the policies of the CSE, accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

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