Circular RNA innovator Circio presents strengthened circVec gene therapy data at ASGCT 2025

Oslo, Norway 14 May 2025 - Circio Holding ASA (OSE: CRNA), a biotechnology company developing powerful circular RNA technology for next generation nucleic acid medicine, today announces the presentation of new and strengthened in vivo data at the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ASGCT) annual meeting 2025 in New Orleans, USA.

In the poster presentation, Circio is showcasing its latest in vitro and in vivo results for the circVec platform. circVec continues to demonstrate broad capability to significantly boost protein expression level and durability for both viral and non-viral gene and cell therapy.

Importantly, new results show that both viral and non-viral circVec vectors display tissue patterns that are distinct from equivalent mRNA-vectors. The pattern is hallmarked by increased protein expression in muscle, heart and spleen, and consistently low in liver. These surprising observations demonstrate a fundamental biological difference between circRNA and mRNA-based expression and show that the circVec platform has advantages that can open new therapeutic opportunities where current gene therapy approaches fall short.

"Circio is rapidly expanding the in vivo circVec data package, with several recent intriguing advances. It has become evident that circVec not only offers increased protein expression level and durability in general, but also that this effect is associated with a distinct tissue profile. These results provide a valuable roadmap to direct our R&D activities and develop a therapeutic strategy focused on areas that are not well served by existing gene therapy approaches." said Dr. Thomas B. Hansen, CTO of Circio. "We selected the prestigious ASGCT meeting to present our latest results as it provided a great opportunity to showcase our technology to a broad life science audience and potential partners."

In addition, Circio is continuing to progress its circVec-AAV gene therapy development for muscular dystrophies and cardiomyopathies. Longitudinal in vivo data up to six months show a general overall advantage of circVec expression at low dose levels. Enhanced target tissue expression and reduced liver accumulation is also observable with circVec-AAV vectors, indicating that the circVec advantage is more pronounced in specific tissues and therapeutic settings. Follow-up analyses and testing of novel circVec-AAV variants are currently ongoing to further explore these observations and identify the most favorable opportunities for circVec-AAV gene therapy development.

Title of presentation:
CircVec: a powerful circular RNA expression platform to enhance viral and non-viral gene and cell therapies

Time and poster number:
13 May 2025, 18:00-19:30hrs CDT, poster #655

Location:
Ernest N. Morial Convention Center, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA

The poster is attached to this press release and is available on Circio´s webpage

For further information, please contact:
Erik Digman Wiklund, CEO
Phone: +47 413 33 536
Email: erik.wiklund@circio.com

Neil Hunter - Hunter PR
Phone:+44 7821 255568
Email: neiljameshunter@gmail.com

About Circio

Building next generation RNA technology for nucleic acid medicine

Circio Holding ASA is a biotechnology company developing powerful circular RNA vector expression technology for next generation nucleic acid medicine.

Circio has established a unique circular RNA (circRNA) vector expression platform for novel DNA, RNA and viral therapeutics. The proprietary circVec technology is based on a modular genetic cassette design for efficient biogenesis of multifunctional circRNA inside cells, which can be deployed in multiple therapeutic settings, including genetic medicine, cell therapy and chronic disease. The circVec platform has demonstrated up to 15-fold enhanced and more significantly more durable protein expression vs. classic mRNA vector systems and has the potential to become a new gold-standard platform technology for nucleic acid and viral therapeutics in the future. The circRNA R&D activities are being conducted by the wholly owned subsidiary Circio AB based at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.

In addition, Circio is developing a pan-RAS cancer vaccine, TG01, targeting KRAS driver mutations. TG01 is currently being tested in two clinical trials: RAS-mutated pancreatic and lung cancer in the USA and multiple myeloma in Norway. These studies are being run through academic and industry collaborative networks, supported by prestigious research grants from Innovation Norway and the Norwegian Research Council, creating read-outs and future optionality for the program at low cost to Circio.

This information is considered to be inside information pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) and is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to MAR article 17 and section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.

This stock exchange announcement was published by Erik Digman Wiklund, CEO, on behalf of the Company, at the time and date stated above in this announcement.