MATEON AND GMP COMPLETED RESEARCH AND SERVICE AGREEMENT

-  Mateon and GMP to proceed to clinical development of OT-101 and Artemisin and other antisense drug candidates against COVID-19

AGOURA HILLS, Calif., June 22, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Mateon Therapeutics, Inc. (“Mateon” or the “Company”) (OTCQB:MATN) announces that both Golden Mountain Partners (GMP) and Mateon have fulfilled all the obligations under the Research and Services Agreement (the “Agreement”) entered on February 3, 2020 and modified on March 22, 2020. The terms and obligations of the agreements have been met by both parties. GMP and Mateon are now moving forward with the clinical development of OT-101, Artemisinin, and other antisense drug candidates against SAR-CoV-2 (COVID-19).

“GMP and Mateon are working tirelessly to ensure that OT-101 and Artemisinin prove to be safe and efficacious for patients with COVID-19. In aggregate GMP has invested >$1.2M in non-dilutive funding in this project allowing us to move quickly to clinical development, ” said Amit Shah, CFO, Mateon Therapeutics. “We hope that these agents will be available to patients during the coming second wave of COVID-19.”

OT-101 is an antisense against host TGF-β protein required for viral replication and its overexpression likely to cause the wide range of clinical symptoms associated with COVID-19 including Kawasaki syndrome (Fatih M. Uckun, Vuong Trieu. Targeting Transforming Growth Factor-beta for Treatment of COVID-19-associated Kawasaki Disease in Children. Clin Res Pediatr 2020; 3(1): 1-3) and ARDS (Fatih M. Uckun, Larn Hwang, Vuong Trieu. Selectively targeting TGF-β with Trabedersen/OT-101 in treatment of evolving and mild ARDS in COVID-19. Clin. Invest. (Lond.) 2020; 10(2), 167-176. DOI: 10.4172/ Clinical-Investigation.1000166.).

We are looking to engage government agencies such as Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority/National Institutes of Health and UK National Institute for Health Research to accelerate the development an effective treatment for COVID-19.

About Mateon’s Lead Product Candidate, OT-101

High-grade gliomas (HGG) are characterized by a T-cell exhaustion signature and pronounced T-cell hyporesponsiveness of their tumor microenvironment (TME). Transforming growth factor beta 2 (TGFB2) has been implicated as a key contributor to the immunosuppressive landscape of the TME in HGG. OT101, a first-in-class RNA therapeutic designed to abrogate the immunosuppressive actions of TGFB2, is Oncotelic’s lead anti-brain tumor drug candidate. OT101 has been granted orphan designation by the FDA under the Orphan Drug Act (ODA). ODA provides for granting special status to a drug to treat a rare disease or condition upon request of a drug company. Orphan designation qualifies the sponsor of the drug for various development incentives of the ODA, including tax credits for qualified clinical testing. In a completed Phase 2 clinical study, OT-101 exhibited clinically meaningful single-agent activity and induced durable complete and partial responses in recurrent and refractory adult HGG patients, including young adults with GBM or AA.

About Mateon Therapeutics

Mateon was created by the recent reverse merger with Oncotelic which became a wholly owned subsidiary of Mateon Therapeutics Inc. (OTCQB:MATN) creating an immuno-oncology company dedicated to the development of first in class RNA therapeutics as well as small molecule drugs against cancer. OT-101, the lead immuno-oncology drug candidate of Mateon/Oncotelic, is a first-in-class anti-TGF beta RNA therapeutic that exhibited single agent activity in some relapsed/refractory cancer patients in clinical trial settings. The founding team members of Oncotelic were responsible for the development of Celgene’s Abraxane as a chemotherapeutic agent for breast, lung, melanoma, and pancreatic cancer. Abraxane was approved in 2005 and has more than $1B in sales annually. The same team was also responsible for the development of Cynviloq, a next generation Abraxane, which was acquired by NantPharma for $1.3B. Mateon/Oncotelic is seeking to leverage its deep expertise in oncology drug development to improve treatment outcomes and survival of cancer patients with a special emphasis on pediatric cancer patients. For more information, please visit and

Mateon's Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included in this communication regarding strategy, future operations, future financial position, prospects, plans and objectives of management are forward-looking statements. Words such as “may”, “expect”, “anticipate” “hope”, “vision”, “optimism”, “design”, “exciting”, “promising”, “will”, “conviction”, "estimate," "intend," "believe", “quest for a cure of cancer”, “innovation-driven”, “paradigm-shift”, “high scientific merit”, “impact potential” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements contained in this press release include, but are not limited to, statements about future plans, the progress, timing, clinical development, scope and success of future clinical trials, the reporting of clinical data for the company’s product candidates and the potential use of the company’s product candidates to treat various cancer indications. Each of these forward-looking statements involves risks and uncertainties and actual results may differ materially from these forward-looking statements. Many factors may cause differences between current expectations and actual results, including unexpected safety or efficacy data observed during preclinical or clinical studies, clinical trial site activation or enrollment rates that are lower than expected, changes in expected or existing competition, changes in the regulatory environment, failure of collaborators to support or advance collaborations or product candidates and unexpected litigation or other disputes. These risks are not exhaustive, the company faces known and unknown risks, including the risk factors described in the company’s annual report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on May 20, 2020 and in the company’s other periodic filings. Forward-looking statements are based on expectations and assumptions as of the date of this press release. Except as required by law, the company does not assume any obligation to update forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in expectations, whether as a result of new information future events, or otherwise.

Contact Information:

For Mateon Therapeutics, Inc.:

Amit Shah