Announcement • Jul 27
Hofseth BioCare ASA Publishes Peer-Reviewed Clinical Study On ProGo Demonstrating GLP-1 Benefits And Increased Lean Muscle Mass Hofseth BioCare ASA announced the publication of a new peer-reviewed clinical study on its salmon protein hydrolysate ProGo in the international scientific journal Biomedicines. The randomised, double-blind, active-controlled pilot study reports that 56 days of daily ProGo supplementation improved multiple biological markers relevant to healthy ageing and metabolic health in overweight adults, while a protein-matched whey comparator did not. In the study, 14 overweight adults received either 12 g/day of ProGo or 12 g/day of an iso-nitrogenous whey protein isolate over 56 days. Because both products were matched for protein content and dose, the differences observed between the groups are attributed to the bioactivity of ProGo’s peptides rather than to protein intake alone. The trial is registered on clinicaltrials.gov (NCT07616752). Whilst this was a pilot study of 14 people ProGo’s impact was large enough to reveal consistent, statistically significant signals across a number of independent measures. Further, whilst there were slightly more women in the ProGo group baseline characteristics were well balanced between the groups and actually the ProGo group started with a higher ferritin level providing a higher bar for greater increases which ProGo demonstrated. Across the pre-specified primary endpoints, and after adjustment for multiple testing, ProGo produced statistically significant improvements versus whey in haemoglobin (+3.8%), red blood cell count (+7.5%), mean corpuscular haemoglobin (+5.7%) and ferritin (+13.4%), together with a 39.1% improvement in a composite self-assessed hair, nail and skin score. ProGo contains negligible dietary iron; prior research attributes the iron-related effects to bioactive peptides that upregulate the iron-storage gene FTH1. Secondary, exploratory analyses, reported without correction for multiple testing and therefore considered hypothesis-generating, favoured ProGo across body composition, inflammation and glucose metabolism. These included reductions in waist circumference (-7.7%), BMI (-7%) and percent body fat (-10.7%), with preservation of lean body mass (+13.3%), alongside reductions in the inflammatory markers IL-6, IL-8, IL-12B and TNF-a and improvements in HbA1c and fasting blood glucose. The whey comparator had minimal impact on these measures. As a small (n=14) pilot study the findings are preliminary, and the authors note that larger, longer and placebo-controlled studies are warranted. ProGo Bioactive Peptides is positioned primarily in the healthy ageing category, having been named winner in the Healthy Aging category at the 2025 NutraIngredients-USA Awards and recognised for its metabolic health credentials. Alongside the Biomedicines publication, HBC is releasing a white paper, “ProGo – the Science of Healthy Ageing & Metabolic Health”, which summarises the clinical findings for a general audience. New Risk • Jul 17
New major risk - Share price stability The company's share price has been highly volatile over the past 3 months. It is more volatile than 90% of Norwegian stocks, typically moving 11% a week. This is considered a major risk. Share price volatility increases the risk of potential losses in the short-term as the stock tends to have larger drops in price more frequently than other stocks. It may also indicate the stock is highly sensitive to market conditions or economic conditions rather than being sensitive to its own business performance, which may also be inconsistent. Currently, the following risks have been identified for the company: Major Risks Share price has been highly volatile over the past 3 months (11% average weekly change). Earnings have declined by 1.5% per year over the past 5 years. Minor Risks Negative equity (-kr111m). Shareholders have been diluted in the past year (27% increase in shares outstanding). Market cap is less than US$100m (kr749.4m market cap, or US$77.7m). New Risk • Jul 01
New minor risk - Financial position The company has less than a year of cash runway based on its current free cash flow. Free cash flow: -kr57m This is considered a minor risk. With less than a year's worth of cash, the company will need to raise capital or take on debt unless its cash flows improve. This would dilute existing shareholders or increase balance sheet risk. Currently, the following risks have been identified for the company: Major Risk Earnings have declined by 1.5% per year over the past 5 years. Minor Risks Less than 1 year of cash runway based on current free cash flow (-kr57m). Negative equity (-kr111m). Share price has been volatile over the past 3 months (10% average weekly change). Shareholders have been diluted in the past year (27% increase in shares outstanding). Market cap is less than US$100m (kr720.7m market cap, or US$72.6m). 
