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iStock, BeritK The Health and Human Services Secretary said that he will find and eliminate the cause of autism by September, an idea that suggests how little he knows about the condition. Last week, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that he is marshaling the force of his agency to discover the link between vaccines and autism. He suggested that this new research project could be completed by September, a lightning quick turn-around for any research project. He offered no other details on what exactly he and HHS will do. Of course he does not need to wait even as long as September. The link between autism and vaccines has been investigated time , and time , and time , and time again. Whether it’s the vaccines themselves or thimerosal, a preservative that used to be used in vaccines but no longer is, there is no link between vaccines and autism. The rising rate of autism diagnoses—ostensibly part of the reason for Kennedy’s concern—is universally agreed to be the result of increased awareness of the condition. Autism can be a difficult thing to manage, and if the pharmaceutical industry could find a way to monetize it—with a pill, a shot, anything—there is no doubt that it would. The truth is that there are no drug treatments specific for autism. All of the most common drugs given to people with the condition are behavioral drugs—like the classic antipsychotic Haldol, a drug that works quite a bit like a tranquilizer, or common anti-depressants like Zoloft or Prozac. Atypical antipsychotics like risperidone and aripiprazole are also used. There are no drugs that have ever been developed and approved solely for autism, and the industry is nowhere close to achieving that. Even if an autistic person—or any person anywhere, for that matter—never paid taxes or wrote a poem, that doesn’t make them fodder for Kennedy’s wild political hallucinations. The most commonly cited source of autism behaviors is genetic, usually pointing at genes involved in the synapse and with dopamine, which can be related to autism’s classic traits of social deficits and repetitive behavior. But these are not “symptoms”—everyone with autism is different. Kennedy might as well be on the hunt for why neighbors are sometimes jerks or people on the bus can be unusual. Kennedy’s thoughts about what could “cause” autism are also extremely retrograde. It’s barely worth repeating that vaccines are largely safe and that Andrew Wakefield’s paper connecting the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine to autism and setting off anti-vaccine hysteria was completely fraudulent . Recent studies have found that autism cases are more or less evenly distributed around the world, meaning there is likely no such thing as an “environmental cause” of autism: not toxins, not pollution and definitely not vaccines. The comments that Kennedy makes about autism are troubling, to put it in the most polite way possible. It is clear to me that at the very least he has crude and outdated ideas about how science works, and at worst he sees autism as a heinous plague to be eradicated, rather than just a different, uncommon set of behaviors that tend to butt up against common social norms, which isn’t much of a pathology. Look at how Kennedy describes people with autism in an April 15 press conference: “These are kids who will never pay taxes,” Kennedy declared. “They’ll never hold a job. They’ll never play baseball. They’ll never write a poem. They’ll never go out on a date.” None of that is true! People with autism live full and rich lives—they marry, have children, hold jobs, play sports and write poetry. Nothing about autism prevents any of those things, and it’s insulting to those people and their family members that the head of America’s health agencies sees autistic people this way. And even if an autistic person—or any person anywhere, for that matter—never paid taxes or wrote a poem, that doesn’t make them fodder for Kennedy’s wild political hallucinations. Like anyone else, they deserve dignity. It is frightening that the most powerful politician at the head of the country’s health agency is so given to conspiracy theories that have been debunked over and over and is so willing to use a vulnerable population of people as a political prop. The country needs a health official who actually cares about the people his policies affect—I don’t think Kennedy is that man. But there are ways to help people on the spectrum and their families, and they are much more prosaic than Kennedy seems to think. They are things like access to care, assessments, and various types of therapy like Applied Behavior Analysis under Medicaid. We could also fund more teacher’s aids to support students with autism in the school system. Instead, Kennedy and President Trump are drastically shrinking the National Institutes of Health—one of the nation’s centers for autism research, while attempting to totally destroy the Department of Education. Take a step back and it’s clear: The administration does not want to help these families at all. They are just more grist for the conspiracy mill.

AGOURA HILLS, Calif., April 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Oncotelic Therapeutics, Inc (OTCQB:OTLC) ("Oncotelic", the "Company" or "We"), a developer of treatments for rare and orphan indications, including Parkinson's Disease, pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (“PDAC”), diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (“DIPG”), and various other cancers, today announced its financial results for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2024 (“FY 2024”), as compared to the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023 (“FY 2023”). The financial results are based on the Annual Report on Form 10-K (“Form 10-K”) as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) on April 15, 2025. Highlights for FY 2024 and thereafter: 2024 has been a transformational year for us. We made great progress on multiple fronts and this momentum continues in 2025. We individually discuss each of these areas below: San Diego Facility Our joint venture (“JV”), GPM Biotechnology Limited, with Dragon Capital Overseas Limited has continued the development of its nanoparticle pipeline at its facility in San Diego (“Facility”) since late 2023 / early 2024. In late 2024, just over a year after breaking ground, the Facility became good manufacturing practices certified and was issued a Drug Manufacturing License by the State of California Department of Public Health and Food and Drug Branch. The Facility is planned to primarily manufacture our drug product, including the clinical trial materials, for the clinical programs for each of our compounds. Nanoparticle Platform At the Facility, the JV initially identified 5 compounds, including OT-101, for development as nanoparticles. Subsequently, the JV identified an additional compound, bringing the total to 5 new compounds, not including OT-101. Each of the nanoparticle compounds is designed as a next-generation anticancer agents. We believe that each of these new compounds can potentially lead to significant revenue and value for the JV, which in turn could lead to significant value to the Company due to our investment in the JV. Two of the 6 compounds are in late stages of manufacturing, and the Company plans to file INDs for both before the end of the year. Our proprietary nanoparticle platform enables the development of multiple therapeutic candidates, to address various oncology indications. Investigational New Drug Filing Platform with Shanghai Medicilon We recently announced that we entered into an agreement to utilize the proprietary rapid investigational new drug (“IND”) platform created and owned by Shanghai Medicilon Inc. (“Medicilon”) to file up to 20 new INDs. We, and the JV, plan to utilize it to file the 6 compounds identified utilizing the Medicilon IND platform, among and upto 20 total filings. OT-101 Clinical Program The primary candidate of our JV, OT-101, which has previously completed multiple clinical trials, is currently undergoing a Phase 3 trial in pancreatic cancer. OT-101 also completed a phase 1 combination trial with IL-2. This will allow us to pursue OT-101 in combination with various checkpoint inhibitors, such as PD-1 blockers. Artificial Intelligence Platform Our artificial intelligence (“AI”) team has played an increasingly important role in the development of the Company and the Facility. Our proprietary AI technology has been used by our scientists in writing research papers, development reports, and regulatory documents from the data gathered from our Facility and elsewhere. As announced in December 2024, we are leveraging our AI Platform, “PDAOAI”, to allow third party researchers and individuals to utilize our platform in their workflow. Unlike standard AI tools, PDAOAI is specifically designed for pharmaceutical regulatory processes and research documentation, streamlining workflows and potentially accelerating development timelines. Results of Operations Below is a presentation of our financial results comparing FY 2024 to FY 2023, and are based on our results published in our Form 10-K filed with the SEC on April 15, 2025. FY 2024 compared to FY 2023 Financial Results Overview ONCOTELIC THERAPEUTICS, INC. AND SUBSIDIARIESCONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS For the Year Ended December 31, 2024 2023 Service Revenue $- $70,000 Total Revenue - 70,000 Operating expenses: Research and development $- $61,143 General and administrative 376,013 573,726 Goodwill impairment (See note 2 and 3) 3,200,000 6,083,146 Total operating expenses 3,576,013 6,718,015 Income/(Loss) from operations (3,576,013) (6,648,015)Other income (expense): Interest expense, net (857,723) (1,044,786)Reimbursement for expenses - related party 22,937 72,246 Change in fair value of investment in GMP Bio - 12,706 Change in fair value of derivative on debt (280,402) (225,074)Loss on debt conversion (88,258) (373,142)Total other income (expense) (1,203,446) (1,558,050)Net income (loss) before non-controlling interests (4,779,459) (8,206,065)Net loss attributable to non-controlling interests (255,527) (302,972)Net income (loss) attributable to Oncotelic Therapeutics, Inc. $(4,523,932) $(7,903,093) Basic net loss per share attributable to common stock $(0.01) $(0.02)Basic weighted average common stock outstanding 404,396,473 384,075,369 We incurred a lower net loss per basic share of $0.01 for the year ended December 31, 2024 as compared to net loss per basic share of $0.02 for the year ended December 31, 2023. We incurred a significantly lower net loss of approximately $3.4 million between December 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively. The lower net loss was primarily due to lower impairment of goodwill by approximately $2.9 million, lower general and administrative expenses of approximately $0.2 million and lower other expenses, including interest cost, or approximately $0.3 million. All operational costs associated with OT-101 and the nanoparticle platform are substantially covered by the JV, significantly reducing our direct financial burden till such time we make a determination to commence development of our own compounds. “Our JV is growing rapidly and is moving towards a potential initial public offering, the timing of which is under evaluation. The JV’s product portfolio has the potential to generate significant revenues and value for itself and, consequently, the Company and its shareholders due to our ownership in the JV. That has been the plan for the Company, since we entered into the JV. As reported in our Form 10-K, while we believe that the valuation of the JV has increased, we have opted to revise the fair value of our investment in the JV only upon a triggering event occurring, and justifying the revision to our fair value, such as, but not limited to, a financing, licensing, an IPO, or results of late stage clinical trials such as our Phase 3 pancreatic cancer trial”, said Amit Shah, CFO for Oncotelic. About Oncotelic Oncotelic (f/k/a Mateon Therapeutics, Inc.), was formed in the State of New York in 1988 as OXiGENE, Inc., was reincorporated in the State of Delaware in 1992, and changed its name to Mateon Therapeutics, Inc. in 2016, and Oncotelic Therapeutics, Inc. in November 2020. Oncotelic is seeking to leverage its deep expertise in oncology drug development to improve treatment outcomes and survival of cancer patients with a special emphasis on rare pediatric cancers. Oncotelic has rare pediatric designation for Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma “DIPG” (through OT-101) through its 45% joint venture, melanoma (through CA4P), and Acute Myeloid Leukemia “AML” (through OXi 4503). Oncotelic also acquired PointR Data Inc. in November 2019. Oncotelic acquired AL-101, during the 4th quarter of 2021, for the intranasal delivery of apomorphine. We intend to develop AL-101 for the treatment of Parkinson Disease ("PD"). Over 60,000 new patients are being diagnosed with PD in the United States and currently there are over 1 million patients in the US and expected to increase to over 1.2 million by 2030. In addition, approximately 10 million suffer from this disease globally. https://www.parkinson.org/Understanding-Parkinsons/Statistics. AL-101 is also being developed for Erectile Dysfunction ("ED"). ED is the most prevalent male sexual disorder globally. The percentages of men affected by ED are as follows: 14.3-70% of men aged 60 years, 6.7-48% of men aged 70 years, and 38% of men aged 80 years (Geerkens MJM et al. (2019). Eur Urol Focus. pii: S2405-4569(19)30079-3). However, with the increasing administration of PDE5 inhibitors in clinical practice, it was found that approximately 30-35% of ED patients are treatment failures (McMahon CN et al. (2006). BMJ, 332: 589-92). AL-101 is designed to target treatment failure ED patients who do not respond to PDE5 inhibitors. Through similar mechanism of action, AL-101 is being developed for Female Sexual Dysfunction ("FSD"). Female sexual dysfunction is a prevalent problem, afflicting approximately 40% of women and there are few treatment options. FSD is more typical as women age and is a progressive and widespread condition. (Allahdadi, KJ et al. (2009) Cardiovascular & hematological agents in medicinal chemistry, 7(4), 260-269). There is no available drug for the treatment of FSD. In June 2019, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Vyleesi (bremelanotide) to treat acquired, generalized hypoactive sexual desire disorder ("HSDD") in premenopausal women. This is the only available drug treatment. Vyleesi has essentially replaced the only other drug for HSDD - however, it has a long list of drug-drug interactions, including commonly used antidepressants, such as fluoxetine and sertraline. In addition, it has a black box warning regarding its use with alcohol, a combination that has been associated with hypotension and syncopal episodes. Therefore, there is an urgent need for effective therapy against FSD and HSDD. Oncotelic's Cautionary Note on Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”) that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. We generally identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “could,” “would,” “intend,” “target,” “aim,” “project,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential,” “seek,” “indicate,” or “continue” or the negative of these terms or other similar words, although not all forward-looking statements contain these words. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our or our management’s expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future, such as our estimates regarding anticipated operating income or losses, future performance, future revenues and projected expense, including that to fund our clinical and other development programs; our liquidity and our expectations regarding our needs for and ability to raise additional capital; our ability to continue as a going concern; our ability to select and capitalize on commercially desirable product opportunities as a result of limited financial resources; our ability to manage our expenses effectively and raise the funds needed to continue our business; our ability to retain the services of our current or future executive officers, directors and principal consultants; the competitive nature of our industry and the possibility that our products or product candidates may become obsolete or may not generate revenues as expected or at all; our ability to obtain and maintain regulatory approval of our existing products and any future products we may develop; the development of and the process of commercializing AI/Blockchain and other technologies for supporting the development of OT- 101 and Artemisinin for COVID-19, OT-101, including development of OT-101, Artemisinin, OXi4503, CA4P and our 2021 in-licensing of apomorphine; the initiation, timing, progress and results of our preclinical and clinical trials, research and development programs; regulatory and legislative developments in the United States and foreign countries; the timing, costs and other limitations involved in obtaining regulatory approval for any product; the further preclinical or clinical development and commercialization of our product candidates; the entering into any corporate transactions to develop our products through partnerships, joint ventures or other corporate transactions; our ability to make a proposed initial public offering between us and our joint-venture partners for the joint venture, statements about future plans related to the operations of the JV, taking the JV into an initial public offering or the success thereof: building and the success of our nanoparticle platform and the related success of launching the platform; the expected valuation of the JV, and therefore a corresponding increase in the valuation of the Company, by virtue of it’s ownership in the JV; the success of the launch of Pet2DAO, a corporation with a DAO infrastructure, the success of Pet2DAO and the plans surrounding the pet and animal health, the ability for the Company to register the tokens of Pet2DAO, the actual filing of a registration statement and approval of the tokens as registrable securities with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) through a registration statement, the ability of the tokens to be tradable or any value such tokens may have if they become tradable; our ability to obtain and maintain orphan drug exclusivity for some of our product candidates; the potential benefits of our product candidates over other therapies; our ability to enter into and maintain any collaboration with respect to product candidates; our ability to continue to develop or commercialize our products or product candidates in the event any license agreements in place with third parties expire or are terminated; the performance and conduct of third parties, including our third-party manufacturers and third party service providers used in our clinical trials; our ability to obtain and maintain intellectual property protection for our products and operate our business without infringing upon the intellectual property rights of others; the potential liability exposure related to our products and our insurance coverage for such exposure; our ability to form alliances with other third parties to develop the products in our pipeline through partnerships, joint ventures, mergers or acquisitions; the successful development of our sales and marketing capabilities; the size and growth of the potential markets for our products and our ability to serve those markets; the rate and degree of market acceptance of any future products; the volatility of the price of our common stock; the ability to achieve secondary trading of our stock in certain states; the dilutive effects of potential future equity issuances; our expectation that no dividends will be declared on our common stock in the foreseeable future; our ability to maintain an effective system of internal controls; the payment and reimbursement methods used by private or governmental third-party payers; our ability to retain adequate staffing levels; unfavorable global economic conditions; unfavorable global epidemic and pandemic conditions; a failure of our internal computer systems or those of our contractors and consultants; potential misconduct or other improper activities by our employees, contractors or consultants; the ability of our business continuity and disaster recovery plans to protect us in the event of a natural disaster; and other factors discussed elsewhere in this document or any document incorporated by reference herein or therein. Contact Information: For Oncotelic Therapeutics, Inc.:Investor Relationsir@oncotelic.com