August 11, 2013

Benitec's hepatitis C therapeutic selected for oral presentation at AASLD conference and TT 034 program

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Sydney Australia, 5 August 2013: Benitec Biopharma Limited (ASX Code: BLT), today announced that its ddRNAi-based gene silencing program for hepatitis C (HCV) has been selected for an oral presentation at the November 2013 meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Disorders (AASLD) being held in Washington DC. This meeting, The Liver Meeting®, is a pre-eminent worldwide conference for researchers working in the area of liver diseases.

In the session featuring "New Agents for HCV Therapeutics", Benitec has been selected to provide an oral presentation on TT-034, its novel gene silencing therapeutic. TT-034, which is expected to enter a first-in-man Phase I/II clinical trial later this year, has the potential to be a one-shot cure for chronic HCV.

The company's Senior Vice President R&D, Dr. David Suhy, who will deliver the presentation, commented: "We are excited to be selected for an oral presentation at this prestigious meeting. This is a strong indication that our program is of significant interest to the liver disease community."

Benitec also announces that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has advised the company that it does not see the need for a final pre-investigational new drug (IND) meeting for the TT-034 program, allowing the Company to finalise its IND. Clinical trials are able to commence 30 days after the application is filed with, and subsequently accepted, by the FDA.

For more information please contact: Dr Peter French | Chief Executive Officer Phone: +61 (02) 9555 6986
pfrench@benitec.com | www.benitec.com

About TT-034: TT-034 is a potentially transformative therapeutic that is intended to provide a "one-shot-cure" for hepatitis C with a single injection. Preclinical studies have shown that the vector used to deliver TT-034 specifically targets liver cells where it transfects almost every cell without causing toxic effects. TT-034 is designed to prevent development of viral resistance (a major problem for most hepatitis C drugs) by simultaneously silencing three separate highly conserved regions on the virus genome. Studies have demonstrated that a single treatment of TT-034 is active out to 180 days (the duration of the studies).

About Benitec Biopharma Limited: Benitec Biopharma Limited is an ASX-listed biotechnology company (ASX Code: BLT) based in Sydney, Australia. The company has a pipeline of in-house and partnered therapeutic programs based on its patented gene-silencing technology, ddRNAi. Benitec is developing treatments for chronic and life- threatening human conditions such as hepatitis C, hepatitis B, wet age-related macular degeneration, cancer- associated pain, drug resistant lung cancer and oculopharyngeal muscular dystrophy based on this technology. In addition, Benitec has licensed ddRNAi technology to other biopharmaceutical companies who are progressing their programs towards the clinic for applications including HIV/AIDS, retinitis pigmentosa and Huntington's disease. For more information on Benitec refer to the Company's website at www.benitec.com.

Source: Benitec Biopharma Limited

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