ProMIS Neurosciences Announces Second Quarter 2016 Results

TSX: PMN

TORONTO, Aug. 12, 2016 /CNW/ - ProMIS Neurosciences, Inc. ("ProMIS" or the "Company") today announced its operational and financial results for the three months ended June 30, 2016. 

"ProMIS made significant progress in its Alzheimer's disease ("AD") program targeting prion-like strains of Amyloid beta ("Ab"), identifying multiple product candidates against five novel therapeutic targets," said Dr. Elliot Goldstein, ProMIS CEO. "We are advancing this program towards final validation in cadaveric brain tissue from AD patients for the purpose of drug candidate selection. ProMIS is now expanding on the opportunity to develop therapeutics for neurodegenerative disease by applying our proprietary technologies to identify targets on neurotoxic prion-like proteins Tau in AD and TDP43 in ALS."

Recent Corporate Highlights

Since April 1, 2016, the Company

• Completed two non-brokered private placements of CDN$1,000,000 each on May 4, 2016, and August 10, 2016;

• Identified and filed provisional patent applications for its fourth and fifth novel potential therapeutic targets on strains of misfolded Aβ;

• Announced that it had identified multiple therapeutic candidates during the screening stage of validation that will be further developed as potential treatments for AD;

• Announced new programs to identify novel therapeutic targets on toxic strains of the protein Tau for AD, and on protein TDP43 for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD);

• Appointed Dr. Johanne Kaplan as Chief Development Officer, whose focus will be on supporting the design and execution of ProMIS' development programs and partnering efforts, and;

• Announced two presentations at the 2016 Alzheimer's Association International Conference, where it presented methods used to identify five novel targets and multiple therapeutic candidates with the desired selective misfolded Aβ binding characteristics.

Financial Results

Net loss for the three months ended June 30, 2016 was $711,942 compared to $279,596 for the same period in 2015. Net loss for the six months ended June 30, 2016 was $1,382,092 compared to $707,601 for the same period in 2015, which included restructuring costs associated with the closing of the Company's research facility in Mississauga, Ontario of $110,000.

The increased loss in 2016 reflects costs associated with operating the Company's Alzheimer's therapeutics program; and supporting its patent portfolio and associated general corporate expenditures.

Research and development expenses for the three months ended June 30, 2016 were $315,027 compared to $112,632 in the same period of 2015. The increase is mostly due to higher salaries and antibody development costs related to the Company's Alzheimer's therapeutic programs, as well as higher stock option compensation. 

General and administrative expenses for the three months ended June 30, 2016 were $392,188 compared to $155,206 in the same period of 2015. The increase is due to investor relations activities, higher stock option compensation and higher salaries.

Research and development expenses for the six months ended June 30, 2016 were $676,511 compared to $344,992 in the same period of 2015. The increase is a result of higher patent filings fees, research program costs and stock option compensation, offset by savings in labour and facilities costs associated with the now-closed research facility in Mississauga. 

General and administrative expenses for the six months ended June 30, 2016 were $697,056 compared to $252,251 in the same period of 2015 due to increases in investor relations expenses, stock-based compensation and higher salaries related to the Company having a paid Executive Chair. 

The Company had working capital of $309,595 as at June 30, 2016. Those funds, together with the proceeds from the recently closed private placement offerings, will fund the Company's operations to the end of the fourth quarter of fiscal 2016.

Outlook

The Company's priorities for the next year are to identify and develop precision medicine therapeutics for AD and ALS.

The Company will continue to expand its Intellectual Property (IP) estate by identifying novel epitope targets on misfolded strains of proteins Aβ and Tau for AD and on misfolded strains of protein TDP43 for ALS. The Company's complementary proprietary technologies, ProMIS^TM and Collective Coordinates, will be employed to identify and confirm such novel targets.

The Company has raised monoclonal antibodies ("mAbs") against the multiple targets identified in its Aβ program for AD and has initiated final validation studies in cadaveric brain tissue from AD patients. The studies will enable selection of mAbs with the desired target profile for the development of precision therapeutics for AD.

Given the Company's robust IP estate relating to misfolded SOD1 in ALS, and the recently announced program to identify novel ALS therapeutic targets on toxic strains of the protein TDP43, ProMIS Neurosciences is actively seeking a collaborative development partnership in this field.

About ProMIS Neurosciences, Inc.

The mission of ProMIS Neurosciences is to discover and develop precision medicine therapeutics for the effective treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, in particular Alzheimer's disease and ALS.

ProMIS uses its computational discovery platform—ProMIS™—to predict novel targets known as Disease Specific Epitopes (DSEs) on the molecular surface of misfolded proteins. Using this unique "precision medicine" approach, ProMIS Neurosciences is developing novel antibody therapeutics and specific companion diagnostics for Alzheimer's disease and ALS. The company has developed two proprietary technologies to specifically identify very low levels of misfolded proteins in a biological sample.  In addition, ProMIS Neurosciences owns the exclusive rights to the genus patent relating to misfolded SOD1 in ALS, and currently has a preclinical monoclonal antibody therapeutic against this target.

The TSX has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. This information release may contain certain forward-looking information. Such information involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from those implied by statements herein, and therefore these statements should not be read as guarantees of future performance or results. All forward-looking statements are based on the Company's current beliefs as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to it as well as other factors. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. Due to risks and uncertainties, including the risks and uncertainties identified by the Company in its public securities filings, actual events may differ materially from current expectations. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

For further information, please consult the Company's website at:
www.promisneurosciences.com,

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SOURCE ProMIS Neurosciences Inc.

NATIONAL Equicom, Michael Moore: [email protected]; Abby Garfunkel: [email protected]; or contact Dr. Elliot Goldstein, President and Chief Executive Officer, ProMIS Neurosciences Inc., Tel. [phone], [email protected]