Atlantic Healthcare Hosts Key Opinion Leader Discussion on Unmet Medical Need in Ulcerative Colitis and the Advantages of Alicaforsen

CAMBRIDGE, United Kingdom, Jan. 31, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Atlantic Healthcare plc ("Atlantic Healthcare" or "Company"), a specialist pharmaceutical company focused on acquiring, developing and commercializing therapeutics that address unmet patient needs and rare diseases, with a focus on gastroenterology hosted a Key Opinion Leader (KOL) event on the current treatment landscape and unmet medical need in Ulcerative Colitis (UC).

The event, held on 28^th January at the Harvard Club in New York and aimed at institutional investors, sell-side analysts, investment bankers and business development professionals, featured a presentation by Dr Brian Feagan, MD, Director of Clinical Trials at the Robarts Research Institute and one of the world's top experts in UC and Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD).

During the event, Dr. Feagan and the other attendees discussed the current treatment landscape for UC, the need for new therapies, as well as the differentiating features of alicaforsen, a potential therapeutic agent being progressed by Atlantic Healthcare in a number of late stage clinical development programmes for the treatment of UC and Crohn's disease.

Dr. Feagan said: "It was a great pleasure to take part in this KOL event and have the opportunity to speak to such a well-informed audience about the challenges of UC, current treatments and emerging treatment options. The gastroenterologist community is strongly committed to evaluating new treatments in order to improve patient outcomes. Safety of new market entrants has become an absolute requirement. Alicaforsen meets this criterion having clearly demonstrated its safety in the clinic.  Further study is now merited to confirm the promising efficacy profile observed in Phase 2 studies." 

Toby Wilson Waterworth, CEO and Dr. Chris Dunk, Director of Clinical Development, Atlantic Healthcare,  provided an update on the Company's R&D pipeline, focusing on alicaforsen, a topically delivered antisense oligonucleotide targeted to down regulate the production of ICAM-1, a cell surface receptor which is involved in the process of inflammation and IBD.

Toby Wilson Waterworth, CEO, Atlantic Healthcare plc said: "This is an exciting time for Atlantic Healthcare as we prepare for the Phase 3 trial of alicaforsen enema in ulcerative colitis (UC) and as such, it is an honor to host such an esteemed expert in the field as Dr. Feagan. Targeting multiple patient groups, Atlantic Healthcare is also developing tablet formulations of alicaforsen for initiation of Phase 2b studies in UC and Crohn's. Our pipeline also includes orphan drug clinical programmes for renzapride, a validated approach to targeting 5HT4 for treating gastrointestinal motility diseases."

UC is a progressive autoimmune disease where initially the rectum and then the colon become inflamed and current medical treatment may not be effective in its management, which can result in surgical intervention in up to 30% of patients.

Review the live/recorded webcast of the event.

About Dr. Feagan

Recognized as one of the world's top experts in IBD, Dr. Feagan is a dedicated researcher focused on the implementation and design of randomized controlled trials for IBD therapies. Dr. Feagan has acted as the principal investigator and led on numerous large-scale international clinical trials. He has authored over 200 articles, book chapters and has also given over 900 invited presentations, at national and international scientific meetings. For more on Dr. Feagan, click here.

About Atlantic Healthcare

Atlantic Healthcare plc is acquiring, developing and commercializing therapeutics that can address unmet needs of patients who are managed by healthcare professionals in hospital and specialist care environments. It has a focus on treatments that can address the unmet medical needs in gastroenterology. The Company owns the exclusive worldwide rights to alicaforsen, a novel antisense drug in development for ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease. In 2019, it also acquired the global rights to renzapride, which has the potential to address the unmet needs of multiple orphan disease patient groups suffering gastrointestinal motility disorders.

In due course Atlantic Healthcare intends to commercialize its products in Europe and the U.S. using a specialist sales team targeting healthcare professionals based in hospitals and specialist care centers. The Company plans to partner with established pharmaceutical companies to commercialize its products in the rest of the world.

The Company is led by an experienced international Board and Leadership Team, with deep roots and a proven track record in the pharmaceutical industry.

For more information please contact:

Atlantic Healthcare

Adam Michael

+44 1799 512 055

+44 777 588 1813

adam.michael@atlantichc.com

Investor Relations and Media

LifeSci Advisors

Chris Maggos

+41 79 367 62 54

chris@lifesciadvisors.com

European Investor Relations and Media

Consilium Strategic Communications

Melissa Gardiner / Matthew Neal

+44 20 3709 5700

atlantichealthcare@consilium-comms.com