On June 20, 2025 Aptose Biosciences Inc. ("Aptose" or the "Company") (TSX: APS; OTC: APTOF), a clinical-stage precision oncology company developing a tuspetinib (TUS) based triple drug frontline therapy to treat patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML), reported that it has entered into a new loan agreement (the "Loan Agreement") with Hanmi Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. ("Hanmi") (Press release, Aptose Biosciences, JUN 20, 2025, View Source [SID1234654018]). The Loan Agreement is an uncommitted facility for up to US$8.5million, administered through multiple advances for the purpose of continued clinical development of TUS.
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The Loan Agreement constitutes a "related-party transaction" within the meaning of Multilateral Instrument 61-101 – Protection of Minority Security Holders in Special Transactions ("MI 61-101") as Hanmi is a related party of the Company under Canadian securities laws. However, the Company is relying on the exemption from the formal valuation and minority shareholder approval requirements contained in MI 61-101 on the basis of the "financial hardship" exemption therein.
"Aptose is incredibly grateful for Hanmi’s continued support tuspetinib," said William G. Rice, Ph.D., Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Aptose. "Our data to date in the TUS+VEN+AZA triplet reveal promising antileukemic activity and safety across diverse AML populations – some with the greatest unmet needs."
Tuspetinib is a convenient once daily oral agent that potently targets SYK, mutated and wild type forms of FLT3, mutated KIT, JAK1/2, and RSK2 kinases, while avoiding many typical toxicity concerns observed with other agents. The ongoing TUSCANY triplet Phase 1/2 study is designed to test various doses and schedules of TUS in combination with standard dosing of azacitidine and venetoclax in newly diagnosed patients with AML who are ineligible to receive induction chemotherapy. Aptose recently reported early data from the first two dose cohorts that have demonstrated safety, CRs and minimal residual disease (MRD) negativity across patients with diverse mutations.