Roquefort Therapeutics PLC (LSE:ROQ, OTCQB:ROQAF) said that significant preclinical progress has positioned it to begin out-licensing discussions with major pharmaceutical companies and private equity funds across the United States, Europe, and Japan.
In an update alongside its prelims, chief executive Ajan Reginald said: "In 2023 we delivered on our strategy by meeting our pre-clinical milestones and significantly advancing our entire portfolio.
"We also strengthened the portfolio with additional patents by creating a new novel family of mRNA therapeutics, which is a highly attractive new field of medicine."
Roquefort is developing cancer drugs and its focus is midkine, a protein that plays a significant role in various cellular processes.
In recent months, it has made strides with the development of its mRNA therapeutics. It has created a new family of four mRNA therapeutics, achieving promising in vivo results in breast and liver cancer studies.
These studies demonstrated a statistically significant reduction in cancer growth and migration, indicating the potential effectiveness of these therapeutics in combating these malignancies.
In addition to its mRNA efforts, Roquefort has also progressed with its midkine antibody programmes aimed at metastatic breast and lung cancers, showing in vivo safety and efficacy.
Particularly notable was the development in the osteosarcoma orphan drug indication, where initial in vivo results have revealed a potential fast-track development pathway due to its orphan drug status, which could lead to market exclusivity.
This is complemented by advancements in the anti-cancer midkine RNA oligonucleotide program, which has shown over 90% in vitro efficacy in targeting human liver and neuroblastoma cancer cells.
Further enhancing its portfolio, Roquefort has bolstered its intellectual property position with new patent filings for siRNA therapeutics and developed four new siRNA sequences utilising a nanoparticle delivery system targeting high mortality cancers such as colon and breast cancer.
Additionally, the MK cell programme has reached a pivotal milestone by demonstrating that when combined with natural killer (NK) cells, it can significantly enhance cytotoxicity in treating challenging cancers such as ovarian cancer, acute myeloid leukaemia, and multiple myeloma, showcasing up to a two-fold increase in effectiveness over NK cells alone.
And, as CEO Reginald pointed out: "We demonstrated the company's deal-making ability by signing our first licence agreement with Randox Laboratories in the medical diagnostics field and are pleased with its continued progress.
"We remain highly focused on, and are progressing, the key commercial goal to secure one or more therapeutic out-licencing transactions."
The loss for the 12 months ended December 31 was £1.7 million. Roquefort exited 2023 with cash of £537,322.