OliX Pharmaceuticals Announces Results from Preclinical Study of NASH Therapeutic Candidate

- OLX702A reversed liver tissue damage in mouse model of NASH

- Results and additional pipeline updates across hair loss, AMD and HBV programs presented at 48th KAST International Symposium

- Preclinical data bolster OliX’s GalNAc-asiRNA technology as drug development platform for liver diseases

SUWON, Republic of Korea, Aug. 04, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- OliX Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (KOSDAQ: 226950), a leading developer of RNAi therapeutics, today presented preclinical data on OLX702A, an investigational therapeutic for the treatment of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), at the 48th Korean Academy of Science and Technology (KAST) International Symposium. In the study, OLX702A reversed tissue damage in the liver in a mouse model of NASH.

OLX702A is a GalNAc-conjugated asymmetric siRNA (asiRNA) that targets a novel gene which is validated as a NASH-related target based on a genome-wide association study (GWAS). NASH is a condition in which excess fat accumulates in the liver along with inflammation that is not caused by heavy alcohol use. It is often accompanied by health conditions such as obesity or metabolic syndrome. NASH is one of the most common liver diseases worldwide and can cause cirrhosis, liver failure and liver cancer.

In a mouse model of high-fat diet-induced NASH, mice receiving OLX702A showed weight loss of more than 10% on average, reduced levels of markers correlated with liver damage and lipid levels in the blood, and restoration of fatty liver tissues almost to a normal level.

“There is tremendous need for medicines to treat NASH given there are currently no approved drugs on the market. We look forward to progressing development of OLX702A based on these encouraging preclinical data,” said Dong Ki Lee, Ph.D., founder and chief executive officer of OliX Pharmaceuticals.

The full presentation can be viewed on YouTube here.

About OliX Pharmaceuticals

OliX Pharmaceuticals is a clinical stage pharmaceutical company developing therapeutics against a variety of disorders by down-regulating expression of disease-causing genes, based on its own proprietary RNAi technology. The Company’s core RNAi platform, asymmetric siRNA (asiRNA), is a unique gene silencing technology based on RNA interference (RNAi), which is considered as the most efficient gene silencing technology. Based on asiRNA technology, OliX has developed cell penetrating asiRNA (cp-asiRNA), a therapeutic RNAi platform to effectively target locally administrable diseases, such as hypertrophic scar, dry and wet age-related macular degeneration (AMD), subretinal fibrosis, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), and neuropathic pain. OliX has also developed another therapeutic RNAi platform, GalNAc-asiRNA, to target a variety of liver diseases. For more information, please visit: https://www.olixpharma.com/eng

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