Independent Non-Executive Chairman Gad Berdugo to Participate in RNA Therapeutics Panel as Company Advances Multi-Modal Pipeline Targeting Age-Related Disease
LONDON, UK / June 22, 2026. Genflow Biosciences Plc (LSE: GENF)(OTCQB: GENFF) (“Genflow” or “the Company”), Europe’s only publicly listed longevity biotechnology company and a pioneer in SIRT6-based gene therapies for age-related diseases, today announces that its Independent Non-Executive Chairman, Gad Berdugo, will attend and participate in the BIO International Convention, taking place June 22-25, 2026, at the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego, California.
Mr. Berdugo is scheduled to join a distinguished panel discussion titled: “RNA Therapeutics: Where Will We See the Greatest Technical Advances and Continued Clinical Validation in the Next 3-5 Years?” – one of more than 130 sessions spanning 18 focus areas at what is widely regarded as the largest and most influential annual gathering in the global biotechnology industry.
Genflow’s participation at BIO 2026 comes at a defining moment for the Company, as it advances across multiple programme fronts: ongoing clinical data generation from its landmark SLAB (Sarcopenia and Longevity in Aged Beagles) canine trial, preparation for a human MASH clinical trial application, and a fully funded strategic technology collaboration with Acuitas Therapeutics – the lipid nanoparticle (LNP) delivery specialist whose platform underpinned several of the world’s most commercially successful mRNA therapeutics.
BIO International Convention: A Global Stage For Longevity Science
The BIO International Convention is one of the world’s pre-eminent biotechnology events, convening more than 20,000 professionals from over 70 countries, including biotechnology companies, academic and research institutions, investors, policymakers, and industry leaders. The convention serves as the premier venue for scientific exchange, strategic partnership development, and investment engagement across the full biotech ecosystem.
Genflow’s involvement in the RNA Therapeutics panel reflects the Company’s expanding technical footprint beyond its original AAV-based gene therapy framework. As the field of nucleic acid medicine continues to mature – driven by clinical validations across oncology, rare disease, infectious disease, and now, increasingly, aging – Genflow’s multi-modal SIRT6 platform positions it at the intersection of two of the most dynamic vectors in modern medicine: longevity biology and mRNA delivery technology.
Mr. Berdugo’s participation in this session underscores the Company’s conviction that RNA-based approaches to delivering the SIRT6 centenarian gene variant represent a significant and near-term development opportunity – one now being actively evaluated through the Company’s collaboration with Acuitas Therapeutics.
The Science Behind SIRT6: Why The Centenarian Gene Matters
At the core of Genflow’s pipeline is SIRT6, a member of the sirtuin family of proteins and one of the most extensively studied longevity-associated genes in modern geroscience. SIRT6 plays a central regulatory role in DNA repair, telomere maintenance, genomic stability, inflammation control, and metabolic homeostasis.
Critically, research conducted at institutions including the University of Rochester, Columbia University, and Albert Einstein College of Medicine has identified specific variants of SIRT6 that appear with significantly higher frequency in individuals who live to 100 years or older – giving rise to what scientists have termed the “centenarian variant.”
Genflow holds the exclusive commercial license to this proprietary SIRT6 centenarian variant intellectual property, jointly owned by the University of Rochester, The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York, and Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
This exclusive position forms a foundational competitive moat for the Company’s entire therapeutic programme. In May 2025, Genflow confirmed that the Japanese Patent Office had advanced its SIRT6-related patent application (Application No. JP 2024515284) – originally filed in May 2022 and titled “Variants of SIRT6 for Use in Preventing and/or Treating Age-Related Diseases” – to the national examination phase, further extending the Company’s global IP protection strategy.
The scientific rationale for targeting SIRT6 is compelling: by introducing a high-efficacy centenarian variant of the gene into aging tissue, Genflow’s approach aims to restore the protective mechanisms that have historically been associated with exceptional human longevity.
This is not merely a symptomatic treatment strategy; it is a disease-modifying intervention aimed at the upstream biological hallmarks of aging itself.
SLAB Trial: Clinical Evidence Accumulating in Aged Beagles
Genflow’s most advanced clinical programme is the SLAB (Sarcopenia and Longevity in Aged Beagles) study – a randomised, blinded, proof-of-concept trial evaluating its SIRT6 centenarian gene therapy (designated GF-1004 in this veterinary context) in aged beagles.
The study, conducted by an independent contract research organisation, enrolled 24 beagle dogs aged over 10 years – a life stage broadly analogous to late-stage human aging – and allocated subjects to four cohorts: two naked DNA treatment groups at different dose levels, a single-dose AAV8 (adeno-associated virus) treatment group, and a control group. The trial commenced in March 2025 and is anticipated to conclude in June 2026.
In February 2026, Genflow reported positive preliminary interim results from the SLAB trial, with the AAV8-based delivery arm demonstrating particularly encouraging safety and biological activity signals.
More recently, in April 2026, the Company reported continued positive durability data from the study, with the AAV-based SIRT6 gene therapy continuing to demonstrate a clean safety profile and sustained functional benefits across the treated cohort.
Additional analyses now underway include methylation clock assessments using the GRIM biological aging marker, as well as muscle histology studies aimed at characterising structural changes associated with improved musculoskeletal health.
The Company believes the emerging SLAB dataset supports the potential of its AAV-based SIRT6 platform as a disease-modifying approach for age-related decline – initially in companion animals, and ultimately in broader human health applications.
Full study completion and a comprehensive data readout are anticipated in the coming months, with results expected to be presented at the Animal Longevity Summit in Toronto in October 2026.
GF-1002: Targeting MASH, The World’s Most Prevalent Chronic Liver Disease
In parallel with the SLAB veterinary programme, Genflow is advancing GF-1002 – its lead human therapeutic candidate – toward a clinical trial in MASH (Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatohepatitis), a severe and progressive liver disease that represents the most prevalent chronic liver condition globally and for which no sufficiently effective pharmacological treatment currently exists. MASH affects hundreds of millions of patients worldwide and is strongly associated with metabolic syndrome, obesity, and type 2 diabetes, making it one of the highest-value target indications in biopharma today.
GF-1002 delivers the centenarian SIRT6 variant via an AAV vector, seeking to exploit SIRT6’s known regulatory role in hepatic metabolic function, inflammation suppression, and fibrosis resistance.
The scientific basis is grounded in preclinical evidence that SIRT6 overexpression attenuates the key pathological drivers of MASH progression: lipid accumulation, oxidative stress, and fibrotic remodelling.
The Company has been progressing GMP-grade manufacturing through its CDMO partners and is targeting a Clinical Trial Application submission in the EU by mid-2026, with AI-driven formulation optimisation conducted through Heureka Labs further refining the programme’s development trajectory.
Acuitas Collaboration: Expanding Into mRNA-Based Delivery
A defining development for Genflow’s platform versatility came in April 2026, when the Company announced a fully funded, non-dilutive strategic technology collaboration with Acuitas Therapeutics – the Vancouver-based LNP delivery specialist whose platform has been incorporated into multiple landmark mRNA programmes that achieved both regulatory approval and large-scale commercial success, including components of the most widely adopted COVID-19 mRNA vaccine programmes.
Under the agreement, Acuitas will formulate Genflow’s proprietary SIRT6 mRNA payload using its clinically validated LNP platform, before returning resulting formulations to Genflow for preclinical evaluation.
The collaboration carries no cash cost to Genflow, with Acuitas investing its own resources in the programme – a fact the Company’s Board regards as an independent and meaningful external validation of the quality and commercial potential of Genflow’s proprietary science.
The data generated through this collaboration are expected to inform critical future development decisions, including delivery optimisation, target tissue engagement profiles, and the structuring of potential licensing and partnering arrangements with third parties.
By adding an optimised LNP delivery modality to its existing AAV-based platform, Genflow materially broadens the scope and addressable market of its SIRT6 programme, creating a more flexible and commercially attractive proposition for future strategic partners.
This expanding multi-modal capability forms a direct contextual backdrop for Genflow’s participation in the RNA Therapeutics panel at BIO 2026, where broader questions about technical validation timelines, delivery optimisation, and clinical application pathways for nucleic acid-based medicines will take centre stage.
Looking Ahead: A Catalyst-Rich Second Half of 2026
Genflow’s attendance at BIO 2026 arrives as the Company approaches a period of significant potential value inflection. Full completion of the SLAB trial, anticipated in the coming weeks, is expected to yield one of the most comprehensive longevity gene therapy datasets generated to date in a companion animal model – with implications for both veterinary licensing and the broader human health development pathway.
The MASH Clinical Trial Application is also advancing toward submission, while the Acuitas LNP collaboration is expected to yield preclinical data that could reframe Genflow’s positioning in the mRNA therapeutics space.
As global interest in the biology of aging continues to accelerate – driven by demographic realities, healthcare cost pressures, and a growing scientific consensus that aging itself is a modifiable disease process – Genflow’s SIRT6 platform is increasingly well positioned as a foundational technology in what many analysts regard as one of the most consequential and commercially significant categories in 21st-century medicine.
Contact Information
Genflow Biosciences Dr. Eric Leire, CEO +32-477-495-881
Harbor Access (Investor Relations) Jonathan Paterson +1 475 477 9401 [email protected]
About Genflow Biosciences
Founded in 2020, Genflow Biosciences Plc (LSE: GENF)(OTCQB: GENFF) is a biotechnology company headquartered in the United Kingdom with R&D facilities in Belgium.
The Company is Europe’s only publicly listed longevity biotechnology company, pioneering gene therapies for age-related diseases with the goal of promoting longer, healthier lives while addressing the financial, emotional, and social impacts of a rapidly aging global population.
Genflow’s lead compound, GF-1002, delivers a centenarian variant of the SIRT6 gene – a longevity-associated gene linked to DNA repair, metabolic regulation, and cellular stress resistance – and has demonstrated promising results across preclinical and early clinical evaluations.
The Company holds an exclusive licence to SIRT6 centenarian variant intellectual property co-owned by the University of Rochester, Columbia University, and Albert Einstein College of Medicine. For more information, please visit www.genflowbio.com and follow the Company on LinkedIn and X (formerly Twitter).
