Dr. Colin van der Kuur reports

ZENTEK PROVIDES A PRELIMINARY UPDATE ON INFLUENZA COUNTERMEASURE CANDIDATE DEVELOPED USING THE MULTIVALENT APTAMER TECHNOLOGY AGAINST H1N1 (SEASONAL INFLUENZA)

Zentek Ltd. has completed the first in vivo tests of the lead candidate countermeasure for seasonal influenza (H1N1) as part of the Innovative Solutions Canada Testing Stream.

Highlights:

• Zentek was awarded approximately $1.1-million through the government of Canada's Innovative Solutions Canada (ISC) testing stream under Innovation, Science, and Economic Development Canada (ISED) for health: advanced and emerging medical technologies.
• Government of Canada testing partners include ISED's Health and Emergency Preparedness Canada (HERC) and Defence Research and Development Canada (DRDC), the science and technology organization of the Department of National Defence (DND).
• On April 23, 2025, Zentek announced in a market update that it had developed a lead candidate for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A(H5N1), with potential efficacy across other influenza strains.
• Testing of the lead candidate in vivo (mouse model) was facilitated by NexusHealth at McMaster University under the supervision of Dr. Matthew Miller.
• Animals given the aptamer lead candidate prophylactically had substantially improved clinical scores, five times greater survival rates, 80-per-cent less weight loss five days postinfection and decreased recovery times compared with the control group.

Zentek is pleased to report successful preliminary testing of a lead influenza aptamer countermeasure in an animal model. The aptamer countermeasure was developed for a government of Canada contract through an ISC testing stream to develop a prophylactic and therapeutic lead candidate countermeasure for HPAI (H5N1). The countermeasure was produced using Zentek's successful multivalent aptamer strategy developed by Dr. Yingfu Li's research group at McMaster University.

The aptamer countermeasure was selected and optimized for broad recognition of influenza hemagglutinin proteins with strong binding affinities for H1, H5, H2 and H3, and has shown to have strong neutralization against H1N1 and H5N1 when tested in vitro.

After successfully selecting a countermeasure in phase 1 of the ISC testing stream contract, the program entered phase 2 for the assessment of the performance of the aptamer countermeasure in in vivo models.

In the first in vivo test, animals were given a 150 micrometres prophylactic dose of either vehicle or the aptamer lead candidate two hours prior to a lethal challenge with A(H1N1)pdm09. Animals that were part of the control group experienced earlier and more severe clinical signs of infection than mice treated with the aptamer countermeasure. By day seven, four out of five mice (80 per cent) in the control group reached endpoint. Only one animal that received the lead aptamer countermeasure reached end point, while the remaining mice fully recovered by day nine.

Following up on these encouraging results, researchers have improved the formulation and administration schedule of the treatment and have prepared materials for more comprehensive testing of the lead candidate's performance against H1N1 and H5N1, which is scheduled to begin in a few weeks.

"We are very encouraged by these preliminary results," said John Snisarenko, BSc, MBA, board member of Zentek with an extensive background in the United States and Canadian pharmaceutical and biotech industry, "Animals treated with the aptamer lead candidate showed substantially improved clinical scores, increased survivability by five times and allowed for a rapid recovery from infection."

Dr. Matthew Miller noted: "We are very encouraged by the fact that this lead aptamer countermeasure has shown activity against seasonal influenza viruses. Seasonal influenza effects over a billion people per year, and so there is a clear and immediate commercial need for this type of intervention. We are optimistic that our testing will also reveal therapeutic activity against highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 -- which would result in a product with both seasonal and pandemic applications."

About Zentek Ltd.

Zentek is an ISO 13485:2016 certified intellectual property technology company focused on the research, development and commercialization of novel products seeking to give the company's commercial partners a competitive advantage by making their products better, safer and greener.

Zentek's patented technology platform ZenGuard, is shown to significantly increase the bacterial and viral filtration efficiency of surgical masks and aims to do the same with HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning system) filters. Zentek's ZenGuard production facility is in Guelph, Ont.

Zentek, through its wholly owned subsidiary Triera Biosciences Ltd., has a worldwide exclusive license to the aptamer-based platform technology developed by McMaster University, which is being jointly developed by Zentek and McMaster for both the diagnostic and therapeutic markets.

The company is not making any express or implied claims that its aptamer technology has the ability to eliminate, cure or contain the COVID-19 disease (or the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus) or H1N1 (seasonal influenza) at this time.

About Triera Biosciences Ltd.

Triera holds an exclusive, worldwide royalty bearing licence from McMaster University to use and practice all aptamer and DNAzyme uses developed through the collaboration with the Li Lab by McMaster University for the next 20 years. Triera and McMaster's combined expertise and capabilities in aptamer technology offer significant potential to reduce the cost and time required for the development of new treatments.

We seek Safe Harbor.