Thalia Therapeutics "making progress" with assets, names new CFO
(Alliance News) - Thalia Therapeutics PLC on Tuesday issued a positive trading update and announced the promotion of Executive Director Luke Cairns to chief financial officer.
Thalia shares were 9.1% higher at 0.60 pence on Tuesday afternoon in London.
The biotechnology company, which focuses on developing RNA therapeutics, said Cairns will continue to work closely with Chief Executive Officer David Solomon "in an executive capacity on implementing the company's strategy and development plans."
"Luke's strong financial and capital markets expertise will continue to drive progress in implementing our strategy," Solomon commented.
Thalia noted that it completed its "strategic transformation into a clinical-stage RNA therapeutics company" in July, following its rebrand from N4 Pharma and acquisition of Sanmirna Therapeutics Inc.
After this "and our successful GBP2.75 million fundraise," Solomon said, "our focus is now firmly on execution...We are making progress across each of our three programmes and look forward to providing shareholders with further details in due course."
Thalia said that THAT-001 or miRisten, which the CEO called "our most important asset," is currently being evaluated in a Phase 1 dose-escalation clinical trial in patients with relapsed or refractory AML, an aggressive form of blood cancer.
It said the trial is on track, with several patient cohorts complete, and it expects to report top-line data in the first half of 2027.
The firm also said that it has started pre-clinical work with WuXi AppTec (Hong Kong) Ltd on THAT-002, which it is developing "as a potentially long-duration, dual-acting siRNA therapeutic designed to address cardiovascular risk". This will include synthesising the siRNAs, in vitro studies and in vivo studies.
Thalia said this will determine the next phase, which may include IND-enabling non-human primate studies in early 2027.
As for the Nuvec RNA delivery platform, or THAT-003, Thalia said work with the University of Strathclyde's Centre for Continuous Manufacturing & Advanced Crystallisation continues, with "encouraging results generated to date". It said ex vivo studies are now underway to demonstrate targeted delivery and release of a payload in the liver via the GalNAc liver-targeting mechanism.
Thalia said Nuvec "remains an important part of [its] portfolio," and that the Strathclyde programme "will provide opportunities for future scientific publication and external validation of the technology."
By Emma Curzon, Alliance News reporter
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