Xenetic Biosciences PLC : - OncoHist commences Phase I/II Trial for NHL

Xenetic Biosciences plc

('Xenetic' or 'the Company')

OncoHist™ commences Phase I/II Trial for Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma

Xenetic Biosciences plc (LSE: XEN.L), a bio-pharmaceutical company specialising in the development of high-value differentiated biological and vaccines and novel cancer drugs, is pleased to announce that its Russian co-development partner, SynBio LLC ("SynBio"), has dosed its first patient with Xenetic's Orphan Drug candidate, OncoHist™, in a Phase I/II clinical trial for refractory Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma ("NHL"). The relevant patents for OncoHist™ are owned by Xenetic's wholly-owned German subsidiary, SymbioTech GmbH.

The NHL trial is a multicentre, Phase I/II, dose escalation study to primarily assess OnocHist's safety, pharmacokinetics and efficacy in adult patients with refractory Non-Hodgkin Lymphomas.  The trial is ICH-GCP compliant and involves 12 adult patients that do not respond to standard forms of treatment.

Xenetic's NHL product candidate, OncoHist™, is a novel therapeutic molecule based on recombinant bis-histone H1.3. The recombinant form, N-bis-met-histone H1.3, is transformed in the body to histone H1.3 (a naturally-occurring substance) where it attaches to tumour cells (while leaving healthy cells untouched) which deny the ability of the tumour cell to grow and proliferate; this process leads to membrane ruptures and the ultimate death of the cancer cells.

NHL is a new therapeutic application for OncoHist™ and extends the drug candidate's potential reach beyond the currently on-going clinical trial in Russia for the candidate's use as a therapy for the treatment of Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML).

OncoHist™ offers the potential of providing cancer sufferers a non-toxic therapy, which would be a much more comfortable - and potentially more successful - option than today's prevailing treatments which are based on radiotherapy and cytotoxic chemotherapy regimens.

Commenting on the Phase I/II trial, M. Scott Maguire, CEO of Lipoxen, said:"The commencement of our patient trials in Russia with OncoHist™ is another exciting step forward in our clinical pipeline development.  We now have six drug candidates under clinical development with our partners including two via our recent acquisition in Germany. OncoHist™, for the treatment of NHL and AML, uniquely fits the Company's strategy to pursue orphan drug candidates utilizing our natural platform technologies.  We look forward to updating the market on the progress of our newly acquired pipeline as well as the additional drug candidates under development in Russia that now have substantial funding to drive FDA and/or EMA clinical trials."

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