Mateon & GMP Completed Research & Service Agreement

Mateon Therapeutics, Inc. recently announced that both Golden Mountain Partners (GMP) and Mateon have fulfilled all the obligations under the Research and Services Agreement entered on February 3, 2020, and modified on March 22, 2020. The terms and obligations of the agreements have been met by both parties. GMP and Mateon are now moving forward with the clinical development of OT-101, Artemisinin, and other antisense drug candidates against SAR-CoV-2 (COVID-19).

“GMP and Mateon are working tirelessly to ensure that OT-101 and Artemisinin prove to be safe and efficacious for patients with COVID-19. In aggregate GMP has invested >$1.2 million in non-dilutive funding in this project allowing us to move quickly to clinical development,” said Amit Shah, CFO, Mateon Therapeutics. “We hope that these agents will be available to patients during the coming second wave of COVID-19.”

OT-101 is an antisense against host TGF-β protein required for viral replication and its overexpression likely to cause the wide range of clinical symptoms associated with COVID-19 including Kawasaki syndrome (Fatih M. Uckun, Vuong Trieu. Targeting Transforming Growth Factor-beta for Treatment of COVID-19-associated Kawasaki Disease in Children. Clin Res Pediatr 2020; 3(1): 1-3) and ARDS (Fatih M. Uckun, Larn Hwang, Vuong Trieu. Selectively targeting TGF-β with Trabedersen/OT-101 in treatment of evolving and mild ARDS in COVID-19. Clin. Invest. (Lond.) 2020; 10(2), 167-176. DOI: 10.4172/ Clinical-Investigation.1000166.).

We are looking to engage government agencies such as Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority/National Institutes of Health and UK National Institute for Health Research to accelerate the development an effective treatment for COVID-19.

High-grade gliomas (HGG) are characterized by a T-cell exhaustion signature and pronounced T-cell hyporesponsiveness of their tumor microenvironment (TME). Transforming growth factor beta 2 (TGFB2) has been implicated as a key contributor to the immunosuppressive landscape of the TME in HGG. OT101, a first-in-class RNA therapeutic designed to abrogate the immunosuppressive actions of TGFB2, is Oncotelic’s lead anti-brain tumor drug candidate. OT101 has been granted orphan designation by the FDA under the Orphan Drug Act (ODA). ODA provides for granting special status to a drug to treat a rare disease or condition upon request of a drug company. Orphan designation qualifies the sponsor of the drug for various development incentives of the ODA, including tax credits for qualified clinical testing. In a completed Phase 2 clinical study, OT-101 exhibited clinically meaningful single-agent activity and induced durable complete and partial responses in recurrent and refractory adult HGG patients, including young adults with GBM or AA.

Mateon was created by the recent reverse merger with Oncotelic which became a wholly owned subsidiary of Mateon Therapeutics Inc. (OTCQB:MATN) creating an immuno-oncology company dedicated to the development of first in class RNA therapeutics as well as small molecule drugs against cancer. OT-101, the lead immuno-oncology drug candidate of Mateon/Oncotelic, is a first-in-class anti-TGF beta RNA therapeutic that exhibited single agent activity in some relapsed/refractory cancer patients in clinical trial settings. The founding team members of Oncotelic were responsible for the development of Celgene’s Abraxane as a chemotherapeutic agent for breast, lung, melanoma, and pancreatic cancer. Abraxane was approved in 2005 and has more than $1 billion in sales annually. The same team was also responsible for the development of Cynviloq, a next generation Abraxane, which was acquired by NantPharma for $1.3 billion. Mateon/Oncotelic is seeking to leverage its deep expertise in oncology drug development to improve treatment outcomes and survival of cancer patients with a special emphasis on pediatric cancer patients. For more information, visit www.oncotelic.com and www.mateon.com.