Telo Genomics Corp. announces the completion of the laboratory processing and analysis of patient samples related to its multiple myeloma drug resistance clinical study. The patient samples were provided by the Mayo Clinic as part of an ongoing collaboration to evaluate the Company's prognostic technology for multiple myeloma ("MM").

TELO's study results have now been submitted back to the Mayo Clinic for review and analysis. This is the second study being carried out in collaboration with the Mayo Clinic to evaluate the Company's prognostic technology to address multiple unmet clinical needs across the spectrum of MM.TELO's ongoing collaboration with the Mayo Clinic includes clinical studies in the development of prognostic tools to address two specific unmet clinical needs in the management of MM including: assess the risk of precursor smouldering myeloma (SMM) patients who may benefit from either immediate intervention for high-risk SMM or active continual monitoring for stable SMM; and identify MM patients who will develop resistance to first-line treatment within two years, and may benefit from an alternative treatment regimen. In July 2022, TELO announced the completion of processing the patient samples related to its lead product for SMM patients.

The Company announces herein the completion of processing the samples for the second clinical study for MM patients who will develop resistance to first-line treatment.MM is a challenging and potentially deadly blood cancer that affects plasma cells, a type of blood cell that helps to fight infection. It is the second most common blood cancer with 35,000 new cases every year in the US, with approximately 180,000 patients receiving treatment at any given time. MM treatment usually includes various combinations of drugs, each having different mechanisms of action at a cost of up to USD 150,000 per year per patient for the standard of care.

However, most patients will develop resistance to treatment and relapse within a median of 2 years. Identifying these patients who will develop drug resistance, relapse early and would benefit from altering their treatment, remains an unmet need in the management of MM. Once relapsed, MM patients are commonly transitioned to a different treatment regimen, where they will continue to benefit from active monitoring to identify the risk of further relapses.

The identification of patients at high-risk of relapse presents the opportunity for closer patient monitoring and consequently, dynamic real-time tailoring of treatment, likely leading to improved survival, longer-remission in patient outcomes, and potentially decreased requirement of more costly interventions like the newly approved CAR-T cell treatment that exceeds $400,000 per treatment. In the US, the incidence rate and number of patients currently receiving treatment provides an estimated addressable market of over 500,000 tests per year for ongoing patient monitoring at 3 month intervals.