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CSE: DTC  FSE: DTC  USOTC: DTCFF  PRESS RELEASE

DEFENCE INVESTIGATES THE APPLICATION OF THE ACCUM^® HYDROGEL TECHNOLOGY TO DELIVER GLP-1 IN ORDER TO INCREASE THE TREATMENT EFFICACY OF DIABETES AND WEIGHT LOSS

Vancouver, BC, Canada, August 19th, 2024 - Defence Therapeutics Inc. (“Defence” or the “Company”), (CSE: DTC, OTCQB: DTCFF, FSE: DTC), a Canadian biopharmaceutical company developing novel immune-oncology vaccines and drug delivery technologies, is pleased to announce a project consisting of investigating the potential benefit of using the Accum® technology to increase the  half-life and efficacity of the GLP-1 agonist as a treatment for obesity and related comorbidities (type 2 diabetes).

Obesity is one of the most urgent health challenges in the world with extensive comorbidities, such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, steatohepatitis and chronic kidney disease to name a few. Over four billion people - about 50% of the world’s population - are estimated to be impacted by obesity or being overweight by 2035. According to WHO, more than one billion people are obese including 650 million adults, 340 million adolescents and 39 million children. The growing number puts an incredible strain on societies and healthcare systems around the world. With the development of revolutionary drugs able to reduce the body weight by 15% to 20% of overweight and obese patients, this could be the biggest opportunity that the pharma industries have ever seen.

Native GLP-1 has a very short half-life (~ 2 min) and is rapidly degraded by dipeptidyl peptidase-IV (DPP-4). Modified GLP-1 peptide analogs with improved stability have therefore been developed for therapeutic purposes. The first GLP-1 peptide analog approved as an anti-diabetic agent is exenatide. The half-life of exenatide after subcutaneous injection is ∼2–3 h, requiring two injections daily. Liraglutide is a human GLP-1 analog with a half-life of ∼13 h, making it suitable for a single daily administration. In the last few years, dulaglutide and semaglutide have become available; these are long-acting GLP-1 analogs with >100-hour half-lives and require a single weekly injection. Current limitations of GLP-1 peptide analogs include the tolerability of gastrointestinal side effects, challenges with managing injections, as well as costs and scalability of drug manufacturing. Furthermore, there are still patient populations whose glucose levels and body weight cannot be adequately controlled by current therapeutics. Unfortunately, while optimization of GLP-1 drugs has reduced injection frequency from daily to weekly, the treatment burden of weekly injection still led to poor patience compliance and the development of longer acting GLP-1 agonists still to be a need for the patient compliance.

Defence is currently planning to develop a formulation incorporating the Accum^® technology to improve in vivo stability, distribution, tolerability and activity of GLP-1 analogs by acting as a protector nanocarrier formulation.

According to GlobalData, the market for GLP-1 receptor agonists is growing at an “unprecedented” rate and by 2033 it will be worth more than US$ 125 billion.

About Defence:

Defence Therapeutics is a publicly-traded clinical-stage biotechnology company working on engineering the next generation vaccines and ADC products using its proprietary platform. The core of Defence Therapeutics platform is the ACCUM® technology, which enables precision delivery of vaccine antigens or ADCs inside target cells and favoring their processing and activities. As a result, increased efficacy and potency can be reached against catastrophic illness such as cancer and infectious diseases.

For further information:

Sebastien Plouffe, President, CEO and Director

P: (514) 947-2272

Cautionary Statement Regarding “Forward-Looking” Information

This release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts, that address events or developments that the Company expects to occur, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by the words "expects", "plans", "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "projects", "potential" and similar expressions, or that events or conditions "will", "would", "may", "could" or "should" occur. Although the Company believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include regulatory actions, market prices, and continued availability of capital and financing, and general economic, market or business conditions. Investors are cautioned that any such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs, estimates and opinions of the Company's management on the date the statements are made. Except as required by applicable securities laws, the Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements in the event that management's beliefs, estimates or opinions, or other factors, should change.

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