Dr. William Rice reports

APTOSE RECEIVES SECOND ADVANCE UNDER THE LOAN AGREEMENT WITH HANMI PHARMACEUTICAL TO CONTINUE DEVELOPMENT OF TUSPETINIB IN TRIPLET THERAPY FOR AML

Aptose Biosciences Inc. has received an additional advance of $2.0-million (U.S.) from Hanmi Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., as part of an $8.5-million (U.S.) loan facility agreement with Hanmi announced prior on June 20, 2025 (press release). To date, Aptose has received an aggregate of $4.5-million (U.S.) under the loan agreement.

"Tuspetinib in combination with venetoclax and azacitidine (the TUS+VEN+AZA triplet) continues to demonstrate exciting antileukemic activity and safety across genetically diverse populations of newly diagnosed AML patients -- including TP53-mutated AML and wildtype AML, representing large AML populations for which there are few treatment options," said William G. Rice, PhD, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Aptose. "We are very grateful to Hanmi for its continued support to help advance tuspetinib clinical development and further extend Aptose's ability to fund this important study."

Tuspetinib is a convenient once daily oral agent that potently inhibits targets that drive excessive proliferation and anti-apoptotic mechanisms, including SYK, mutated and wild type forms of FLT3, mutated KIT, JAK1/2 and RSK2 kinases. Yet, TUS maintains a favourable safety profile by avoiding typical toxicity concerns observed with other agents. The continuing Tuscany triplet phase 1/2 study is designed to test various doses and schedules of TUS in combination with standard dosing of azacitidine and venetoclax in newly diagnosed patients with AML who are ineligible to receive induction chemotherapy. At the European Hematology Association Congress in June, Aptose reported early data from the first two dose cohorts that have demonstrated safety, CRs and minimal residual disease (MRD) negativity across patients with diverse mutations (press release).

About Aptose Biosciences Inc.

Aptose Biosciences is a clinical-stage biotechnology company committed to developing precision medicines addressing unmet medical needs in oncology, with an initial focus on hematology. The company's small molecule cancer therapeutics pipeline includes products designed to provide single agent efficacy and to enhance the efficacy of other anti-cancer therapies and regimens without overlapping toxicities. The company's lead clinical-stage compound tuspetinib (TUS), is an oral kinase inhibitor that has demonstrated activity as a monotherapy and in combination therapy in patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and is being developed as a front-line triplet therapy in newly diagnosed AML.

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