REG - Fusion Antibodies - Update on negotiations with NCI regarding OptiMAL

Fusion AntibodiesAnnouncement

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RNS Number : 1835M  Fusion Antibodies PLC  19 December 2025

19 December 2025

 

Fusion Antibodies plc

("Fusion" or the "Company")

 

Update on negotiations with NCI regarding OptiMAL(®)

 

Fusion Antibodies plc (AIM: FAB), specialists in pre-clinical antibody
discovery, engineering and supply for both therapeutic drug and diagnostic
applications, announces that following the validation project run with the
National Cancer Institute ("NCI") between November 2023 and earlier this year,
the NCI has expressed an interest in continuing to use OptiMAL® as a
frontline human antibody discovery platform for a range of targets.
Consequently, the NCI has provided Fusion with a proposal to extend the
collaboration agreement entered in November 2023 (the "Agreement") to allow
screening of several named targets.

 

Having reviewed the initial proposal for an extension to the Agreement,
Richard Buick, CSO, and Adrian Kinkaid, CEO, met with Mitchell Ho of the NCI
at the recent Antibody Engineering and Therapeutics conference in San Diego.
The discussions included options to extend the NCI's use of OptiMAL® and
various administrative pathways to achieve this. The immediate needs of NCI
are to support current and imminent screening projects using OptiMAL®. The
latest discussions also encompassed possible additional projects with enhanced
ownership for Fusion Antibodies.

 

Negotiations regarding the expanded proposed programme are expected to
continue into early 2026. Due to the scale of the proposal, formal approval
processes at the US National Institutes of Health (of which the NCI is part)
are likely to take several further months to complete. While discussions are
progressing, there is no assurance that an extension to the Agreement will be
reached, nor as to the timing or final terms of such an extension.

 

Adrian Kinkaid, Chief Executive Officer of Fusion Antibodies, commented: "The
NCI's interest in continuing to use OptiMAL® is a strong validation of the
platform following the initial programme. We are encouraged by the
constructive discussions around extending the collaboration and supporting
additional targets, while recognising that formal approval processes are still
ongoing."

 

Further updates will be provided in due course.

 

Enquiries:

 

 Investor questions on this announcement
 We encourage all investors to share questions on this announcement via our      Investor hub (https://investorhub.fusionantibodies.com/)
 investor hub

 Fusion Antibodies plc                                                           www.fusionantibodies.com
 Adrian Kinkaid, Chief Executive Officer                                         Via Walbrook PR

 Stephen Smyth, Chief Financial Officer

 Allenby Capital Limited                                                         Tel: +44 (0) 20 3328 5656
 James Reeve/Vivek Bhardwaj (Corporate Finance)

 Tony Quirke/Joscelin Pinnington (Sales and Corporate Broking)

 Shard Capital Partners LLP
 Damon Heath (Joint Broker)                                                      Tel: +44 (0) 207 186 9952

 Walbrook PR                             Tel: +44 (0)20 7933 8780 or fusion@walbrookpr.com
 Anna Dunphy                                                                     Mob: +44 (0)7876 741 001

 

Fusion Antibodies wants to keep its investors up to date with developments in
the Company technology and offerings. We have therefore created a space on the
Investor Hub which in contains an increasing number of videos providing more
information which may be of interest to investors. This can be found here,
https://investorhub.fusionantibodies.com/s/1b6535
(https://investorhub.fusionantibodies.com/s/1b6535) .

 

About Fusion Antibodies plc

 

Fusion is a Belfast based contract research organisation ("CRO") providing a
range of antibody engineering services for the development of antibodies for
both therapeutic drug and diagnostic applications.

 

The Company's ordinary shares were admitted to trading on AIM on 18 December
2017. Fusion provides a broad range of services in antibody generation,
development, production, characterisation and optimisation. These services
include antigen expression, antibody discovery including using the proprietary
OptiMAL® platform, antibody production, purification and sequencing, antibody
humanisation using Fusion's proprietary CDRx (TM) platform and the
production of antibody generating stable cell lines to provide material for
use in clinical trials. Since 2012, the Company has successfully sequenced
and expressed over 250 antibodies and successfully completed over 290
humanisation projects and has an international, blue-chip client base, which
has included eight of the top 10 global pharmaceutical companies by revenue.

 

The Company was established in 2001 as a spin out from Queen's University
Belfast. The Company's mission is to enable pharmaceutical and diagnostic
companies to develop innovative products in a timely and cost-effective manner
for the benefit of the global healthcare industry. Fusion Antibodies provides
a broad range of services in antibody generation, development, production,
characterisation and optimisation.

 

Fusion Antibodies growth strategy is based on combining the latest
technological advances with cutting edge science to deliver new platforms that
will enable Pharma and Biotech companies get to the clinic faster, with the
optimal drug candidate and ultimately speed up the drug development process.

 

 

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