Kalytera Issues CEO Letter to Shareholders

SAN FRANCISCO, May 25, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Kalytera Therapeutics, Inc. (TSX VENTURE: KLY and OTCQB: KALTF) (the "Company" or "Kalytera") today issued the following letter to shareholders from the Company’s President and CEO, Robert Farrell.

Dear Kalytera Shareholders,

I would like to underscore the importance of the transaction that we announced last week, and provide an update on our programs in prevention and treatment of graft versus host disease and in treatment of pain.

On Tuesday last week, we announced that Kalytera has signed a Letter of Intent to acquire Salzman Group, Inc. (“Salzman Group”).  On close of this transaction, Kalytera will have a new pharmaceutical development program, developing R-107 for three indications, including treatment of COVID-19 associated lung disease, chlorine inhalation lung injury (“CILI”) and pulmonary arterial hypertension (“PAH”). The CILI development program has been funded in whole or in part with U.S. federal funds from the Department of Health and Human Services; Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response; Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, under Contract No. HHSO100201600016C.   

Salzman Group’s Drug Discovery Team and R-107
The principal assets that Kalytera will acquire in this transaction are the Salzman Group drug discovery team, and R-107, the proprietary drug that was invented by this team. Salzman Group’s drug discovery team has deep expertise with nitric oxide, and has been working since 1994 to deliver nitric oxide in a non-gaseous form. Andrew Salzman, M.D., Chairman of Salzman Group, was the first physician to administer inhaled nitric oxide to a human patient in 1990. R-107 is a non-gaseous, liquid prodrug of nitric oxide that was invented by Salzman Group.

Increased Interest in Nitric Oxide for Treatment of COVID-19 Infection, and COVID-19 Associated Lung Disease
Within the past two months there has been an increased focus on the potential of nitric oxide for treatment of COVID-19 infection, and in its potential for treatment of COVID-19 associated lung disease. For example, Massachusetts General Hospital is initiating an international clinical study, and will be the first hospital in the nation to rigorously test nitric oxide in coronavirus patients.¹ Dr. Lorenzo Berra, the critical-care specialist at Massachusetts General who is overseeing the new, international trial stated, “It’s a pretty remarkable drug. It has a risk profile that is minimal.”  Dr. Keith Scott, principal investigator of the Louisiana component of the trial stated that, “We have tremendous confidence this therapy will alter the devastating effects of COVID-19, but we must test it. If results show promise, and since this gas is already FDA-approved, widespread use could begin immediately.”