Knopp Biosciences and APFED Announce Partnership to Advance Awareness of Hypereosinophilic Syndromes

Knopp Biosciences LLC and the American Partnership for Eosinophilic Disorders (APFED) today announced a partnership to advance awareness of hypereosinophilic syndromes (HES) and to investigate the challenges facing people with the disease.

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The partnership includes a one-day conference for patients with HES, believed to be the first of its kind, to be held March 23, 2018, in the Washington, D.C. area. This event will bring together patients and researchers to discuss the needs and experiences of people with HES, a rare, systemic inflammatory disease caused by increased levels of a type of white blood cell – the eosinophil – implicated in numerous inflammatory diseases. Knopp and APFED will also develop up-to-date educational materials for patients with HES highlighting advances in understanding the causes of and treatments for the disease.

“APFED is excited to work with Knopp to help shed light on the unique needs and challenges of HES patients,” said APFED’s Executive Director, Mary Jo Strobel. “As we work to increase HES education and advance research of this rare subset of eosinophil-associated disease, bridging researchers and patients is critical. Investigators need a clear understanding of the patients’ journey—how they are diagnosed, how the disease impact daily life, what an ideal treatment looks like? And the patients are eager for information about HES: the clues that research unlocked thus far, how we work together to create improved and meaningful therapies. In the research arena, this is an exciting time for patients with rare eosinophil-associated diseases, such as HES. It is our passion and goal to help patients with these diseases, and we must work together to get there.”

“Knopp is very pleased to forge this partnership with the leading organization for people with eosinophilic disorders,” said Michael Bozik, M.D., president and CEO of Knopp. “As a drug development company targeting HES and other eosinophil-associated diseases, we look forward to collaborating with APFED to deepen our understanding of HES patient needs and to share what we learn with the patient and medical communities.”

Knopp Biosciences is advancing dexpramipexole, an oral drug recently shown to lower eosinophils and corticosteroid requirements in patients with HES. Further clinical studies of dexpramipexole in HES are expected to begin in the first half of 2018.

Details about the March 2018 HES patient conference and a link to register for the event will be available in October on the APFED website, apfed.org, and the Knopp Biosciences website, knoppbio.com.

ABOUT THE AMERICAN PARTNERSHIP FOR EOSINOPHILIC DISORDERS (APFED)

The American Partnership for Eosinophilic Disorders (APFED), based in Atlanta, GA, USA, is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization whose mission is to passionately embrace, support, and improve the lives of patients and families affected by eosinophil-associated diseases through education and awareness, research, support, and advocacy. To learn more about APFED and eosinophil-associated diseases, visit apfed.org.

ABOUT KNOPP BIOSCIENCES LLC

Knopp Biosciences, based in Pittsburgh, PA, USA, is a privately held drug discovery and development company focused on delivering breakthrough treatments for inflammatory and neurological diseases of high unmet need. Our clinical-stage small molecule, dexpramipexole, will be entering late-stage clinical studies in hypereosinophilic syndromes and Phase 2 clinical studies in eosinophilic asthma. Our preclinical platform is directed to small molecule treatments for neonatal epileptic encephalopathy, a devastating brain disorder of infants caused by a rare mutation in the KCNQ2 gene. Please visit knoppbio.com.

This press release contains "forward-looking statements," including statements relating to planned regulatory filings and clinical development programs for dexpramipexole. All forward-looking statements are based on management's current assumptions and expectations and involve risks, uncertainties and other important factors, specifically including the uncertainties inherent in clinical trials and product development programs, the availability of funding to support continued research and studies, the availability or potential availability of alternative therapies or treatments, the availability of patent protection for the discoveries and strategic alliances, as well as additional factors that may cause Knopp's actual results to differ from our expectations. There can be no assurance that dexpramipexole will be successfully developed or manufactured or that final results of clinical studies will be supportive of regulatory approvals required to market the product. Knopp undertakes no obligation to update or revise any such forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Knopp's pipeline consists of investigational drug products that have not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. These investigational drug products are still undergoing clinical study to verify their safety and effectiveness.

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Contact information

Mary Jo Strobel
Executive Director, APFED
+1-713-493-7749
mjstrobel@apfed.org
or
Tom Petzinger
EVP, Knopp Biosciences
+1-412-488-1776
tom@knoppbio.com