Veru Reports Inducement Grants Under NASDAQ Listing Rule 5635(c)(4)

MIAMI, June 24, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Veru Inc. (NASDAQ: VERU), a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel medicines for COVID-19 and other viral and ARDS-related diseases and for the management of breast and prostate cancers, today announced the granting of inducement awards to three new employees. In accordance with NASDAQ Listing Rule 5635(c)(4), the award was made as a material inducement to the three employees’ entry into employment with the Company.

In connection with the commencement of employment, the three employees received stock options on June 20, 2022, to purchase an aggregate 90,000 shares of Veru common stock under the Company’s recently adopted 2022 Employment Inducement Equity Incentive Plan. The stock awards vest in three equal annual installments beginning on the first anniversary of the grant date, subject to each employees’ continued service with the Company through the applicable vesting date.

About Veru Inc.
Veru is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel medicines for COVID-19 and other viral and ARDS-related diseases and for the management of breast and prostate cancers.

A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled Phase 3 COVID-19 clinical trial was conducted in approximately 210 hospitalized COVID-19 patients with moderate to severe COVID (≥ WHO 4-supplemental oxygen) at high risk for ARDS and death. The primary endpoint was the proportion of deaths by Day 60. Based on a planned interim analysis of the first 150 patients randomized, the Independent Data Monitoring Committee unanimously halted the study for overwhelming efficacy and safety. Treatment with sabizabulin 9mg once daily, an oral, first-in-class, new chemical entity, cytoskeleton disruptor that has dual anti-inflammatory and antiviral properties, resulted in a clinically meaningful and statistically significant 55.2% relative reduction in deaths. After a pre-EUA meeting with FDA, the Company announced on June 7, 2022, that it had submitted a request for FDA emergency use authorization. FDA granted Fast Track designation to the Company’s COVID-19 program in January 2022. 

The Company’s late-stage breast cancer development portfolio comprises enobosarm, a selective androgen receptor targeting agonist, and sabizabulin.

Current studies on the two drugs include:

• Enrolling Phase 3 ARTEST study of enobosarm in androgen receptor positive, estrogen receptor positive, and human epidermal growth factor receptor two negative (AR+ ER+ HER2-) metastatic breast cancer with AR ≥ 40% expression (third-line metastatic setting), and which has been granted Fast Track designation by the FDA.