AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Genprex, Inc. (“Genprex” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: GNPX), a clinical-stage gene therapy company developing potentially life-changing technologies for patients with cancer and diabetes, today announced that it was added to the Russell 3000® Index after the market closed on Friday, June 26, 2020 as part of the 2020 Russell U.S. Indexes reconstitution.
"Genprex is excited to be a member of the Russell 3000 Index, and we look forward to sharing our story and unique approaches for the treatment of lung cancer and diabetes with a wider group of investors,” said Rodney Varner, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Genprex. “We believe the Company’s future is bright as we work to secure better outcomes for patients suffering from these serious medical conditions.”
In January 2020, Genprex was awarded U.S. FDA Fast Track designation for use of GPX-001 (quaratusugene ozeplasmid) combined with Tagrisso® (osimertinib) for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients with EGFR mutations whose tumors progressed after treatment with Tagrisso alone. The Company also signed in early 2020 an exclusive license agreement with the University of Pittsburgh for a preclinical diabetes gene therapy candidate that has the potential to cure Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. Earlier this year, the Company significantly strengthened its balance sheet through “at the market” capital raises without warrants, plus the exercise by investors of most outstanding Company warrants, aggregating approximately $28 million in proceeds to the Company. The funds will support the Company’s research and development programs and other corporate uses and initiatives, which could include strategic transactions.
The Russell 3000 Index includes the 3,000 publicly traded companies on the Nasdaq and NYSE exchanges with the largest market capitalizations. FTSE Russell, a leading global index provider, determines membership for its Russell indexes primarily by objective, market-capitalization rankings and style attributes (i.e. growth or value). Each June, the Russell 3000 index is reconstituted to reflect market capitalization changes over the prior year. This closely watched market event impacts more than $9 trillion in investor assets benchmarked to or invested in products based on the Russell U.S. indices.
About Genprex, Inc.
Genprex, Inc. is a clinical-stage gene therapy company developing potentially life-changing technologies for patients with cancer and diabetes. Genprex’s technologies are designed to administer disease-fighting genes to provide new treatment options for large patient populations with cancer and diabetes who currently have limited treatment options. Genprex works with world-class institutions and collaborators to in-license and develop drug candidates to further its pipeline of gene therapies in order to provide novel treatment approaches. The Company’s lead product candidate, GPX-001 (quaratusugene ozeplasmid), is being evaluated as a treatment for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). GPX-001 has a multimodal mechanism of action that has been shown to interrupt cell signaling pathways that cause replication and proliferation of cancer cells; re-establish pathways for apoptosis, or programmed cell death, in cancer cells; and modulate the immune response against cancer cells. GPX-001 has also been shown to block mechanisms that create drug resistance. In January 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted Fast Track Designation for GPX-001 for NSCLC in combination therapy with osimertinib (AstraZeneca’s Tagrisso®) for patients with EFGR mutations whose tumors progressed after treatment with osimertinib alone. For more information, please visit the Company’s web site at www.genprex.com or follow Genprex on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Forward-Looking Statements
Statements contained in this press release regarding matters that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Because such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the effect of Genprex’s product candidates, alone and in combination with other therapies, on cancer and diabetes, regarding potential, current and planned clinical trials, regarding the Company’s future growth and financial status and regarding our commercial partnerships and intellectual property licenses. Risks that contribute to the uncertain nature of the forward-looking statements include the presence and level of the effect of our product candidates, alone and in combination with other therapies, on cancer; the timing and success of our clinical trials and planned clinical trials of GPX-001, alone and in combination with targeted therapies and/or immunotherapies, and whether our other potential product candidates, including our gene therapy in diabetes, advance into clinical trials; the success of our strategic partnerships, including those relating to manufacturing of our products; the timing and success at all of obtaining FDA approval of GPX-001 and our other potential product candidates including whether we receive fast track or similar regulatory designations; costs associated with developing our product candidates and whether patents will ever be issued under patent applications that are the subject of our license agreements. These and other risks and uncertainties are described more fully under the caption “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in our filings and reports with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. All forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date on which they were made. We undertake no obligation to update such statements to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date on which they were made.
