Hofseth Biocare ASA

SPIN-OFF OF PROSTATE CANCER CO-TREATMENT PROJECT - Seite 2

HBC has consulted external advisors, GPH Biotech LLC. and other key stakeholders and concluded on an initial value of HBCI including transferred IP of MUSD 12.5 based on a risk-adjusted royalty method. HBC has booked approx. MNOK 1.8 in costs on the patent and patent application as of 31 December 2022. This means that the spin-off of the Project to HBCI will generate approximately 21 MNOK in financial gain for HBC in Q2 2023.

The current status of the Project is that HBC has successfully completed the invitro analysis of the newly identified individual peptides that modulate iron metabolism in prostate cancer cells, in combination with standard of care hormone therapy (bicalutamide and enzalutamide) to enhance the kill rate of prostate cancer cell lines representing different stages of prostate cancer. The initial results were published in Marine Drugs (28 March 2022) and the completed in-vitro work was presented at Pharma R&D, February 2023.

HBC considers that the spin out of the Project into a separate entity in the US increases the likelihood of succeeding with developing commercial applications of the Project. HBCI's close proximity to Stanford University and the Bay Area, California, should facilitate access to competent personnel and R&D resources and future funding.

Jon Olav Ødegård, HBC CEO, said: "I am delighted to see that after years of hard discovery science work from Professor Bomi Framroze and his team, we are now starting a new journey to demonstrate the possibility of finding novel pharmaceutical drug leads for large areas of unmet health needs in Oncology. At HBC, we believe the sustainability story is second to none. Particularly if we are able to show we can take fresh Atlantic salmon by-products, that some would regard as waste, and turn them in new drugs. It has been an ambitious goal, but we now see extraordinary potential from the early published data on the co-therapeutic efficacy of our peptides taken with existing “best-standard-of-care” (BSC) in early and late-stage Prostate Cancer. The idea is for this peptide to improve quality of life, extend life and indeed help reduce overall mortality in Prostate Cancer patients.”