Oslo, Norway, 23 March 2017: Targovax ASA ("Targovax" or "the Company"; OSE: TRVX), a clinical stage company focused on developing immuno-oncology therapies to target treatment-resistant solid tumors, today announces that its shares have been accepted to list on Oslo Børs, the main Oslo Stock Exchange. The Company was previously listed on Oslo Axess, a regulated and licensed market under the auspices of the Oslo Stock Exchange.
Since listing the shares of Targovax on Oslo Axess in July 2016, the Company has achieved several milestones, including:
- Encouraging top line two-year survival data from the TG01 clinical trial in resected pancreatic cancer patients. Data showed a survival rate of 68% from the first patient cohort compared to published historical rate of 30-53%, suggesting a signal of clinical efficacy for the drug candidate
- Granting of European patent for ONCOS-102, protecting Targovax's ONCOS platform lead product until 2029
- Strengthening the team with the appointment of Øystein Soug as Chief Executive Officer and the appointment of Erik Digman Wiklund as Chief Financial Officer
- Presenting at a number of scientific and investor conferences
Øystein Soug, Chief Executive Officer of Targovax, said: "This move marks another exciting step for Targovax. Being part of the main market is an important development for the future of the company, giving us access to a larger investor base and helping enhance our visibility. We are pleased to have had the support from the Axess market and are delighted to have been accepted on to the Oslo main market."
For further information, please contact: Renate Birkeli, Investor Relations Phone: +47 922 61 624 Email: renate.birkeli@targovax.com
Media and IR enquires: Jan Petter Stiff - Crux Advisers (Norway) Phone: +47 995 13 891 Email: stiff@crux.no
Julia Phillips/Simon Conway - FTI Consulting (International) Phone: +44 20 3727 1000 Email: Targovax@fticonsulting.com
About Targovax Arming the patient's immune system to fight cancer
Targovax is a clinical stage company focused on developing and commercializing novel immuno-oncology therapies to target, primarily, treatment-resistant solid tumors. Immuno-oncology is currently one of the fastest growing therapeutic fields in medicine.
The Company's development pipeline is based on two novel proprietary platforms:
The first platform, ONCOS, uses oncolytic viruses, an emerging class of biological therapy. ONCOS exclusively uses an adenovirus that has been engineered to be a tumor-targeted immune activator. The platform has the potential to generate therapies with superior efficacy and safety compared to the first approved oncolytic virus therapy, Imlygic®, launched by Amgen. We continue to expect key proof of concept data for this platform in 2017 from a clinical study of lead program ONCOS-102 in patients with refractory malignant melanoma.
The second platform, TG peptides (TG), solely targets tumors that express mutated forms of the RAS protein. Mutations to this protein are common in many cancers and are known to drive aggressive disease progression and treatment resistance. There is a high unmet medical need for therapies that are effective against tumors that express these mutations. The TG platform's therapeutic potential stems from its ability to enable a patient's immune system to identify and then destroy tumors bearing any RAS mutations. In early 2017, key proof of concept data for the TG platform from a clinical study of TG01 in resected pancreatic cancer patients showed encouraging overall survival and will guide the future plans for the clinical development of TG01.
Targovax's development pipeline has three novel therapeutic candidates in clinical development covering six indications. Already promising safety and tolerability data and early signs of clinical response have been demonstrated.
Both platforms are protected by an extensive portfolio of IP and know-how and have the potential to yield multiple product candidates in a cost-effective manner. We have a number in early stages of development in addition to the three outlined above.
This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.
