Telo Genomics Appoints Kris Weinberg as Chief Executive Officer

December 12, 2022 8:45 AM EST | Source: Telo Genomics Corp.

Toronto, Ontario--(Newsfile Corp. - December 12, 2022) - Telo Genomics Corp. (TSXV: TELO) (OTCQB: TDSGF) (the "Company" or "TELO") is pleased to announce the appointment of Kris Weinberg as Chief Executive Officer ("CEO"), effective today. Telo Genomics' current CEO, Sherif Louis PhD, will assume the position of President & Chief Technology Officer.

"These executive changes are integral to TELO's long term growth strategy," said John Meekison, Telo Genomics Board Director & Chair of the Audit Committee. "Sherif has spear-headed the Company's technology turn-around with the successful development of the Telo multiple myeloma ("Telo-MM") tests. Telo-MM is being developed to provide important, actionable information to medical professionals for the treatment of multiple myeloma ("MM"), a deadly form of blood cancer. We look forward to working with both Sherif and Kris as the Company progresses the commercialization of Telo-MM, moving from lab to clinic."

Mr. Weinberg is an accomplished industry veteran and commercial leader with deep, hands-on experience in the field of high value molecular testing, with a focus on the commercialization of innovative oncology technologies. Mr. Weinberg most recently led the commercial activities at Theralink Technologies, where he successfully launched the Theralink Assay for Breast Cancer to physicians and payors nationally in the US. Kris previously held commercial leadership roles at Natera, Guardant Health, Biodesix and Genomic Health; where he was successful in launching innovative cancer tests across multiple platforms.

"I am very pleased to join the Telo Genomics' team and look forward to applying my years of experience on the commercialization side of the diagnostic industry to initiate the launch of the Telo-MM diagnostic test," said Mr. Weinberg. "It is a great time to be joining TELO - this is the inflection point of moving from exciting R&D to commercialization. TeloView technology is strongly supported by scientific and clinical evidence and addresses vital unmet clinical needs in the management of multiple myeloma, particularly for high-risk 'smoldering myeloma' patients."

In connection with Mr. Weinberg's appointment as CEO, the Company has granted 1,000,000 stock options (the "Options") with a term of 5 years and an exercise price of $0.35 pursuant to the Company's 2022 stock option plan. The Options will vest 25% on the date of grant, with an additional 25% vesting on each anniversary of the date of grant thereafter over a period of 48 months until fully vested. The options expire on December 12, 2027.

TELO has recently completed the clinical validation of two tests that have been developed to address important unmet clinical needs in the management of MM. TELO's lead product is designed to identify high-risk smoldering multiple myeloma ("SMM") patients who are likely to benefit from earlier treatment intervention. Of greater importance, the test identifies the larger subset of low-risk SMM patients who have a more stable form of the disease, do not require immediate treatment, and can be regularly monitored using TELO's assay. The Company's second MM assay predicts treatment resistance in newly diagnosed MM patients. Identifying these patients allows physicians to modify their treatment regimens in a timely manner. The test facilitates regular monitoring and, consequently, enables real time treatment modification, as indicated.

About Multiple Myeloma

Multiple myeloma is a challenging and potentially deadly blood cancer that involves plasma cells, a type of blood cell that helps to fight infection. It is the second most common blood cancer with an incidence of 35,000 new cases every year in the US, and ~180,000 patients receiving treatment at any given time. Although the introduction of new generation therapy, including targeted immunotherapy, has increased the median survival rate to over 5 years, MM is still considered incurable. Two asymptomatic precursors, MGUS and SMM generally precede the progression to classic, symptomatic MM at yearly rates of 1% from MGUS and at 15% from SMM, respectively. To date, identifying patients who will more rapidly progress to MM remains an important unmet clinical need. MM treatment includes various combinations of drugs with a cost as high as $150,000 per year per patient. As most patients will develop resistance to treatment and relapse within a median of 2 years, identifying them proactively remains another important and unmet need. Notably, the total addressable market for both of these MM assays is over 750,000 tests per year in the US.

About TELO

Telo Genomics is a biotech company pioneering the most comprehensive telomere platform in the industry with powerful applications that enable both predictive and prognostic solutions. These include liquid biopsies and related technologies in oncology and neurological diseases. Liquid biopsy is a rapidly growing field of significant interest to the medical community for being less invasive and more easily replicated than traditional diagnostic approaches. By combining our team's considerable expertise in quantitative analysis of 3D telomeres with molecular biology and artificial intelligence to recognize disease associated genetic instability, TELO is developing simple and accurate products that improve day-to-day care for patients by serving the needs of pathologists, clinicians, academic researchers and drug developers. The benefits of our proprietary technology have been substantiated in 160+ peer reviewed publications and in 30+ clinical studies involving more than 3,000 patients with multiple cancers and Alzheimer's disease. Our lead application, TELO-MM is being developed to provide important, actionable information to medical professionals in the treatment of multiple myeloma, a deadly form of blood cancer. For more information please visit www.telodx.com.

For further information, please contact:

Hugh Rogers,
Director
416-673-8487
info@telodx.com
MaRS Centre, South Tower,
101 College Street, Suite 200,
Toronto, ON, M5G 1L7
www.telodx.com

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as such term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Certain information contained herein may constitute "forward-looking information" under Canadian securities legislation. Generally, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "intends", "will", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "will" occur. Forward-looking statements regarding the clinical efficacy of products, commercial viability of products, use of proceeds, and the ability of the TeloView® platform to deliver personalized medicine resulting in better treatments and outcomes are based on the Company's estimates and are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, including capital expenditures and other costs. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward- looking statements and forward-looking information. The Company will not update any forward-looking statements or forward-looking information that are incorporated by reference herein, except as required by applicable securities laws.

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