Novartis exercises exclusive option agreement with Conatus for the treatment of NASH

Novartis International AG / Novartis exercises exclusive option agreement with Conatus for the treatment of NASH . Processed and transmitted by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

• Exclusive license for emricasan supports rapidly growing development portfolio in chronic liver diseases, including NASH
   

Conatus has initiated the Phase IIb ENCORE-LF clinical trial with emricasan in NASH. If positive, Novartis would conduct Phase III studies of emricasan as a single and combination treatment with a Novartis FXR agonist
 

NASH, a progressive form of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is expected to be the leading cause of liver transplants in the US by 2020[1]

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Basel, May 4, 2017 - Novartis announced today that it has notified Conatus Pharmaceuticals Inc., of its exercise of the option to an exclusive license for the global development and commercialization of emricasan, under the option, collaboration and license agreement signed with Conatus on December 19, 2016.  The exercise of the option with Conatus, a biotechnology company focused on the development of novel medicines to treat liver disease, and grant of exclusive license to Novartis will be effective upon receipt of all required anti-trust approvals and payment of USD 7 million option exercise fee to Conatus. 

This follows the initiation of the Phase IIb ENCORE-LF trial by Conatus evaluating emricasan in patients with decompensated liver cirrhosis caused by nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). This collaboration has the potential to expand treatment options for people in various stages of fatty liver disease, where no approved medicines currently exist.

"We are pleased to add another important medicine to our liver portfolio with emricasan, which has shown potential in patients with advanced fibrosis and cirrhosis," said Vas Narasimhan, Global Head, Drug Development and Chief Medical Officer, Novartis. "We look forward to advancing our broad portfolio of NASH and chronic liver disease programs to address this growing unmet need."

Novartis is developing Farnesoid X receptor (FXR) agonists for the treatment of chronic liver diseases. As part of this collaboration, Conatus will conduct multiple Phase IIb clinical trials with emricasan in NASH. If results are positive, Novartis would then conduct Phase III studies of emricasan as a single treatment as well as development of combination therapies with an FXR agonist.