Update on negotiations with NCI regarding OptiMAL

Fusion Antibodies plc (AIM: FAB), specialists in pre-clinical antibody discovery, engineering and supply for both therapeutic drug and diagnostic applications, announces that following the validation project run with the National Cancer Institute ("NCI") between November 2023 and earlier this year, the NCI has expressed an interest in continuing to use OptiMAL® as a frontline human antibody discovery platform for a range of targets. Consequently, the NCI has provided Fusion with a proposal to extend the collaboration agreement entered in November 2023 (the "Agreement") to allow screening of several named targets.

Having reviewed the initial proposal for an extension to the Agreement, Richard Buick, CSO, and Adrian Kinkaid, CEO, met with Mitchell Ho of the NCI at the recent Antibody Engineering and Therapeutics conference in San Diego. The discussions included options to extend the NCI's use of OptiMAL® and various administrative pathways to achieve this. The immediate needs of NCI are to support current and imminent screening projects using OptiMAL®. The latest discussions also encompassed possible additional projects with enhanced ownership for Fusion Antibodies.

Negotiations regarding the expanded proposed programme are expected to continue into early 2026. Due to the scale of the proposal, formal approval processes at the US National Institutes of Health (of which the NCI is part) are likely to take several further months to complete. While discussions are progressing, there is no assurance that an extension to the Agreement will be reached, nor as to the timing or final terms of such an extension.

Adrian Kinkaid, Chief Executive Officer of Fusion Antibodies, commented: "The NCI's interest in continuing to use OptiMAL® is a strong validation of the platform following the initial programme. We are encouraged by the constructive discussions around extending the collaboration and supporting additional targets, while recognising that formal approval processes are still ongoing."

Further updates will be provided in due course.

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