Thalia Therapeutics Plc (THAT) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

microRNA therapeutics is a really new and burgeoning space among RNA therapeutics. And miRisten targets miR-126, a microRNA that is elevated in AML. And when it's elevated, it progresses the malignancy. When you lower miR-126, you do two things. You stop the progress of the malignancy, but importantly, you allow the leukemia stem cells to be susceptible to kill by agents like Venetoclax and other chemotherapy agents.

Hello, you're watching Proactive. I'm joined by Thalia Therapeutics Chief Executive, Dr. David Solomon. David, very good to speak with you. For investors who don't know Thalia yet, can you give us a quick introduction to the company and what's driven this latest acquisition?

Yes. Thank you. Pleasure to be here. So Thalia is a AIM-listed company that until not long ago was called N4 Pharma. And together with the Board, we effected a transformation to call it Thalia, which is the Greek word to grow or to blossom and to focus on RNA therapeutics. We laid down in early '26, our proprietary cardiovascular gene silencing medicine, an siRNA, and announced yesterday was the acquisition of Sanmirna, a privately held Delaware C corporation that has an exclusive license to miRisten, a medicine being developed at City of Hope. And so with the acquisition now Thalia brings the Sanmirna values and Sanmirna assets to Thalia, and now we have multiple assets -- the important feature here is that miRisten, the Sanmirna asset that we brought on board is in the clinic and is recruiting patients in a very aggressive leukemia called AML or acute myeloid leukemia. And we're very hopeful about the progress of this medicine.

So essentially, this deal transforms Thalia into a clinical stage company overnight?

Yes, indeed. And in a way, when you can think about it, it really marches us forward seven-plus years. It would take seven years organically and probably GBP 30 million to develop a medicine from idea to a Phase I asset in patients. Or you could go and buy it from pharma, but that would require a double-digit upfront payment at the transactional cost today. So we're very fortunate to structure a deal creatively, a share-based deal where we acquired Sanmirna in the United States and its asset, miRisten undergoing clinical trials at the leading cancer centers, City of Hope, and now charge this forward under our leadership.

David, what makes miRisten's approach different from existing treatments? And how far along is the Phase I trial?

So this is fundamentally different and exciting. microRNA therapeutics is a really new and burgeoning space among RNA therapeutics. And miRisten targets miR-126, a microRNA that is elevated in AML. And when it's elevated, it progresses the malignancy. When you lower miR-126, you do two things. You stop the progress of the malignancy, but importantly, you allow the leukemia stem cells to be susceptible to kill by agents like Venetoclax and other chemotherapy agents. So we hold out high promise. This has been published in leading journals, including Blood in March with an editorial on the cover of that journal. And we think that the early progress already together with work in the clinic is impactful. You asked a question about how is the progress of this clinical trial, and it is progressing well. It's already recruiting patients. It is recruiting individuals with AML. So we look, of course, at safety and tolerability, but we're also looking at efficacy. And I can tell you that there's been a number of patients recruited and the signal thus far is promising. Along the way, we'll address the results, but we anticipate having top line results latest H1 '27 with some interim results in individual patients along the way.

You've raised GBP 2.75 million alongside the acquisition with directors and vendors putting in over GBP 1.2 million themselves. What does that level of insider participation tell investors about confidence in this deal?

Yes. I think that's an excellent point, Stephen. And I think the point here is there is an enormous amount of commitment not only on the vendors, NLC Ventures, myself and City of Hope. But our Board of Directors is extremely committed to this transformation and these set of assets. And I think that level of participation shows not only belief, but also suggests great momentum going forward to have now some institutional investors around the table joining with the already strong investors that were there in Thalia. So it's the beginning of an exciting journey, and I'm grateful to all who participated. I think an important note to say here is that the money raised will fully fund this trial all the way to the readout. So whereas some investors or shareholders might worry they're going to be diluted along the journey, -- this will take us to a meaningful transition of the company to a clinically meaningful endpoint without raising additional funds, without additional dilution.

David, you now have three assets at different stages, Nuvec, the new cardiovascular product and miRisten. What should investors be watching for next?

Well, I think you'll start to see progress on the miRisten trial at City of Hope. And so we'll be able in an open-label trial to report out hopefully some meaningful results along the way. For our dual-acting, you'll start to see sort of IND-enabling studies, hopefully as well in monkeys that prove that this medicine is both safe and well tolerated, but also might lower key risk factors for stroke and heart attack that will allow us to maybe effect some important partnership options with large pharma. And finally, Nuvec may be enabling for the cardiovascular medicine to be able to deliver it better with unique IP and with different ratios. So all these assets will continue. I think they'll all add value over time, and they'll do so under a single fundraise with a very sort of experienced management team and Board.

David, I hope you'll continue to keep us updated with your progress. Thank you very much for your time today.

Thank you so much for your time as well.

Dr. David Solomon, Chief Executive of Thalia Therapeutics.