Acasti Pharma Provides Business Update for the First Quarter of Fiscal 2021

On track to report TRILOGY 2 topline data on or about August 31, 2020

LAVAL, Québec, Aug. 13, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Acasti Pharma Inc. (“Acasti or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: ACST – TSX-V: ACST), a biopharmaceutical innovator focused on the research, development and commercialization of its prescription drug candidate CaPre (omega-3 phospholipid) for the treatment of severe hypertriglyceridemia (sHTG) (triglyceride blood levels from 500 mg/dL to 1500 mg/dL), today provided a business update and announced its operating and financial results for the first quarter of fiscal 2021 ended June 30, 2020.  

Corporate Highlights:

• Finalized and submitted TRILOGY 2 Statistical Analyses Plan (“SAP”) to the FDA on July 31, 2020
• Provided business update, on June 29, 2020, in which the Company identified “Triglyceride Normalization” phenomenon prior to patient randomization and treatment as likely contributor to unusually high placebo effect in TRILOGY 1; post-hoc analyses revealed a rapid, significant and sustained reduction in TG levels between screening (during qualification) and the time of patient randomization (prior to patients starting on either drug or placebo); meaningful efficacy trend for CaPre was observed after correcting for the unexpectedly large placebo response in the original analysis
• Received a Notice of Allowance for second composition of matter patent to be awarded by the Canadian Intellectual Property Office, expanding the Company’s existing claims to include any composition containing EPA and DHA, where at least 50% of the composition consists of phospholipids.
• Received a notice of issuance of a composition of matter patent to be awarded by the Intellectual Property Office in Hong Kong granting claims for any composition containing EPA and DHA, where at least 50% of the composition consists of phospholipids
• TRILOGY 2 topline results expected on or about August 31, 2020
• Update on the timing  for reporting the key secondary and exploratory endpoints from both TRILOGY 1 and TRILOGY 2 trials, and pooled results from both studies, will be provided after TRILOGY 2 results are reported

As previously reported, the Company, along with the academic Principal Investigator (PI) of the study, Dariush Mozaffarian M.D., Dr.P.H., and external clinical and statistical experts, conducted rigorous post-hoc analysis of TRILOGY 1 data. These analyses revealed a rapid, significant and sustained reduction in TG levels between screening (during qualification) and the time of patient randomization (prior to patients starting on either drug or placebo), which Acasti refers to as “Pre-randomization Triglyceride (TG) Normalization.” This artefactual phenomenon affected both treatment groups, but was much greater in the placebo group, resulting in the large placebo effect and significant underestimation of the post-randomization treatment effect of the active drug, CaPre.  The post-hoc analyses of the primary endpoint using a revised, single point baseline value from Week 0 (Visit 4) corrected for a significant amount of the pre-randomization TG reduction in subjects that were most affected by the normalization phenomenon, and a meaningful efficacy trend for CaPre was observed.