Roquefort Therapeutics PLC on Monday was optimistic about its prospects for the new year, following a busy final quarter in 2022.

Roquefort Therapeutics is a London-based biotech company, developing first-in-class drugs in the oncology segment prior to partnering or selling to larger pharmaceutical firms.

Towards the end of last year, the company continued to develop its four pre-clinical anti-cancer medicines through a combination of partnerships. It recently signed partnership agreements and begun pre-clinical development programs with several academic research centres.

These include the Olivia Newton-John Cancer Research Institute, the Lowy Cancer Research Centre, Hawkins Laboratory of Biochemistry & Genetics, and the School of Medical Sciences - located in both Melbourne and Sydney.

‘These partners complement our own world-class in-house expertise and laboratory infrastructure and enable us to implement a broader and more effective development strategy,’ said Chief Executive Officer Ajan Reginald said.

Roquefort has also appointed Emma Morris as head of pre-clinical research. Morris previously held a senior research role in cancer research at the University of Oxford.

Looking ahead, Roquefort has initiated out-licensing discussions with multiple large biopharmaceutical companies.

These licencing discussions are focused on partnerships for the company’s core cancer therapeutic programmes, including Midkine antibodies, Midkine RNA therapeutics, STAT-6 siRNA therapeutics, and MK cell therapy.

They also address non-core applications, such as diagnostics, biomarker detection and therapy areas outside of cancer.

‘We start 2023 with significant momentum and look forward to updating the market on our progress in due course,’ said CEO Reginald.

Roquefort shares were trading 2.1% higher at 6.51 pence each in London on Monday afternoon.

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