MindWalk Advances Universal Influenza Program with a Breakthrough Functional Insight

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Validated Across Influenza A and Influenza B, Including H3N2 Subclade K and Zoonotic Influenza A Subtypes H5, H7, H9

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AUSTIN, Texas — MindWalk Holdings Corp. (NASDAQ:HYFT) (“MindWalk” or the “Company”), a Bio-Native AI therapeutic research and technology company, today announced an advance in its universal influenza program following the identification of a breakthrough functional constraint that persists across influenza viruses despite continual evolution.

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Using its patented HYFT® Deep Data technology, MindWalk identified a functional pattern embedded in influenza biology that remains intact beneath surface-level genetic change. When MindWalk examines what does not change, it is not referring to conserved genetic sequences. It refers to preserved biological constraints; the biophysical requirements influenza must satisfy for infection.

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Influenza remains a major global health threat because influenza viruses continually alter immune-exposed regions of surface proteins, eroding durable protection and forcing reactive vaccine redesign. Current U.S. surveillance reflects unusually high influenza activity, described in public reporting as the highest level in approximately 25 years.

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Why Influenza Keeps Beating Conventional Vaccines

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Most influenza research relies on tracking genetic variation. Researchers align sequences, score similarity, and catalog mutations. These methods support surveillance, yet they often miss deeper functional constraints because they operate at the level influenza changes readily.

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MindWalk’s HYFT® pattern technology works without sequence alignment, capturing multi-dimensional functional fingerprints that encode geometry, stability, and biophysical constraints. This reveals functional logic that remains stable even when sequence variation obscures it. This is a layer influenza is constrained from altering without loss of core function required for infection.

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Validation Across Influenza A Subtypes and Influenza B Lineages

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Using its proprietary HYFT pattern framework, MindWalk evaluated the identified functional constraint across influenza A and influenza B datasets spanning multiple hosts.

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The HYFT-defined pattern was confirmed across currently circulating influenza A viruses, including viruses classified within H3N2 subclade K, a genetic subgroup under active global surveillance. The same strict functional pattern was also observed across avian influenza A datasets spanning subtypes H5, H7, and H9, indicating preservation of this constraint across both human and avian influenza backgrounds.

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MindWalk expanded this analysis beyond influenza A to include influenza B, evaluating representative references from both influenza B lineages, Victoria and Yamagata, and again observed the same strict HYFT-defined functional pattern. In addition, assessment of a representative swine-origin influenza A H1N1 dataset yielded the same result.

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Taken together, MindWalk has now identified this conserved HYFT pattern across:

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Across the influenza datasets evaluated to date, MindWalk has not observed a different way for influenza to meet this functional requirement within the constraints analyzed. These results support the conclusion that the identified pattern reflects an evolutionary constraint shared across influenza A and influenza B, rather than a strain-specific or sequence-dependent feature.

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“Influenza constantly rewrites its genetic script, but it remains tightly constrained by the physics required for infection,” said Jennifer Bath, Ph.D., CEO of MindWalk. “Our HYFT technology allows us to identify those constraints and design directly against them.”

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From Discovery to Biological Reasoning and Rational Vaccine Design

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This advance builds directly on MindWalk’s prior work in rational vaccine design and further supports its Bio-Native AI and Deep Data approach. Rather than predicting outcomes from incomplete inputs, MindWalk’s LensAI™ platform, using the core HYFT technology, captures and reasons over biological context, linking sequences, functions, experimental outcomes, and scientific evidence into a continuously learning system.

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By reasoning directly from biological constraints, MindWalk aims to improve decision quality, reduce downstream failure, and increase the expected value of drug discovery programs.

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“Influenza has been studied for decades, yet researchers kept looking at what changes instead of what does not,” said Dirk Van Hyfte MD, PhD, Chief Technology Officer of MindWalk. “HYFT technology let us step outside sequence thinking and identify a functional constraint influenza must preserve for infection. Once you see that layer, the problem stops being about prediction and starts being about design.”

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Influenza Program Development and Out-Licensing Strategy

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MindWalk intends to advance its influenza program through a phased, capital-efficient development pathway built around program-level segregation. Platform-derived programs are structured as standalone development portfolios, allowing capital, risk, and decision-making to align with each individual asset while preserving the integrity of MindWalk’s core discovery platform.

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Under this approach, the influenza program will progress through additional pre-clinical validation and IND-enabling work within its own dedicated portfolio. This structure is designed to support focused investment, clear value inflection points, and efficient governance as the program advances.