Genprex Collaborators Report Positive TUSC2 and Checkpoint Blockade Preclinical Data at the 2019 AACR Annual Meeting

AUSTIN, Texas & CAMBRIDGE, Mass.— (April 8, 2019) — Genprex, Inc. (NASDAQ: GNPX), a clinical-stage gene therapy company, reported that its collaborators from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (“MD Anderson”) presented positive preclinical data for the combination of the TUSC2 gene with an anti-PD1 antibody, pembrolizumab, for the treatment of lung cancer in a poster presented at the American Association of Cancer Research Meeting 2019. The TUSC2 gene is a tumor suppressor gene, the active agent in Genprex’s Oncoprex™ immunogene therapy.

The poster, entitled “Development of an improved humanized patient-derived xenograft, Hu-PDX, mouse model for evaluation of antitumor immune response in lung cancer” showed that TUSC2 combined with checkpoint blockade was more effective than checkpoint blockade alone in increasing the survival of mice with human immune cells (humanized mice) that had metastatic lung cancer. The TUSC2 treatment with the checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab slowed tumor growth significantly. Pembrolizumab previously had no effect on tumor growth in non-humanized mice. The data also demonstrated the Hu-PDX model as an improved platform for evaluation of immunotherapy.

“This sophisticated model gets one step closer to recapitulating certain functions of the human immune response within a manageable scientific animal model and allows us to further test our hypotheses of how a more complex immune system could interact with aggressive cancers when primed by drugs, such as Oncoprex, in humans,” said Julien L. Pham, MD, MPH, President and Chief Operating Officer of Genprex. “These data further support and solidify existing preclinical data showing that Oncoprex immunogene therapy is synergistic with anti-PD1 therapy and could result in a stronger antitumor response compared to either agent alone. It also demonstrates how Oncoprex could be used in combination with other immunotherapies as a viable treatment option for late-stage non-small cell lung cancer.”

Poster Presentation Details:

Date/Time: Wednesday, April 3, 2019 from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. ET

Location: Georgia World Congress Center, Exhibit Hall B

Session: Immunomodulators and Response to Therapy

Title: Development of an improved humanized patient-derived xenograft, Hu-PDX, mouse model for evaluation of antitumor immune response in lung cancer

Authors: Ismail M. Meraz, Mourad Majidi, Feng Meng, RuPing Shao, Min Jin Ha, Shinya Neri, Bingliang Fang, Steven H. Lin, Peggy T. Tinkey, Elizabeth J. Shpall, Jeffrey Morris, Jack A. Roth. UT MD Anderson Cancer Ctr., Houston, TX

Following the AACR annual meeting, the poster will also be made available on Genprex’s website at genprex.com.

About Genprex, Inc.

Genprex, Inc. is a clinical-stage gene therapy company focused on developing life-changing therapies for patients with cancer and diabetes. Genprex’s technologies are designed to administer disease-fighting genes to provide new therapies for large patient populations with cancer and diabetes who currently have limited treatment options. Genprex works with world-class institutions and collaborators to develop drug candidates to further its pipeline of gene therapies in order to provide novel treatment approaches. The Company’s lead product candidate, GPX-001 (quaratusugene ozeplasmid), is being evaluated as a treatment for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). GPX-001 has a multimodal mechanism of action that has been shown to interrupt cell signaling pathways that cause replication and proliferation of cancer cells; re-establish pathways for apoptosis, or programmed cell death, in cancer cells; and modulate the immune response against cancer cells. GPX-001 has also been shown to block mechanisms that create drug resistance. In January 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted Fast Track Designation for GPX-001 for NSCLC in combination therapy with osimertinib (AstraZeneca’s Tagrisso®) for patients with EFGR mutations whose tumors progressed after treatment with osimertinib alone. For more information, please visit the Company’s web site at www.genprex.com or follow Genprex on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.

Forward-Looking Statements

Statements contained in this press release regarding matters that are not historical facts are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Because such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the effect of Genprex’s product candidates, alone and in combination with other therapies, on cancer and diabetes, regarding potential, current and planned clinical trials, regarding the Company’s future growth and financial status and regarding our commercial partnerships and intellectual property licenses. Risks that contribute to the uncertain nature of the forward-looking statements include the presence and level of the effect of our product candidates, alone and in combination with other therapies, on cancer; the timing and success of our clinical trials and planned clinical trials of GPX-001, alone and in combination with targeted therapies and/or immunotherapies, and whether our other potential product candidates, including GPX-002, our gene therapy in diabetes, advance into clinical trials; the success of our strategic partnerships, including those relating to manufacturing of our product candidates; the timing and success at all of obtaining FDA approval of GPX-001 and our other potential product candidates including whether we receive fast track or similar regulatory designations; costs associated with developing our product candidates and whether patents will ever be issued under patent applications that are the subject of our license agreements. These and other risks and uncertainties are described more fully under the caption “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in our filings and reports with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date on which they were made. We undertake no obligation to update such statements to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date on which they were made.

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