NEWSRELEASE

RYTVELAtotallypreventsfetalorganinjuryininflammatory-inducedPTBinmiceRytvela–newtreatmentparadigmforpretermbirth(PTB)andensuedconsequences

Montreal,Canada,February16,2017–RYTVELBiotechispleasedtoannouncethatthearticle:Antenatal suppressionof interleukin-1protectsagainst inflammation-induced fetal injuryandimproves neonatal and developmental outcomes in mice was published in the Journal ofImmunology.Seebelowforinformationaboutthearticle.

MathieuNadeau-Vallée,Peck-YinChin, LydiaBelarbi,Marie-ÈveBrien,SheetalPundir,MartinH.Berryer,AlexandraBeaudry-Richard, Ankush Madaan, David J. Sharkey, Alexis Lupien-Meilleur, Xin Hou, Christiane Quiniou, InesBoufaied, Jean-Sebastien Joyal, William D. Lubell, David M. Olson, Sarah A. Robertson, Sylvie Girard and SylvainChemtob.

In a previous article, published in September 2015 in the same journal, the authors havedemonstrated that Rytvela reduces utero-placental inflammation and is efficacious to restorenormaltermforbirth,andsignificantlyreducesnewborndeathyieldingnormalgrowthtrajectory.

Thesedatacamefromthreedifferentblinded,separateandindependentstudiesofPTBinduceseitherbyIL-1,LPSorLTA.

The new publication uses the same design to the previous one but concentrates on neonataldeathandoutcome,withfocusonbrain,lungsandgut.TheauthorsshowthatRytvelacompletelyprotectsfetal/newbornorgansfromtheinflammatoryinuteroinsult.Itshouldbehighlightedthatbrainfunctionassessedbyvisual-evokedpotentialwastotallypreservedinanimalstreatedwithRytvela(versusmarkedlyaffectedcontrols).

Rytvelaisanewefficientfirstinclasstreatmentofthecauseandensuingseriousconsequencesofpretermbirth.

“Weareagainveryencouragedwiththesenewresultswhichfocusonfetaloutcome,themainproblemofPTB,”saidSylvainChemtob,MD,PhD,co-founderofRytvelBiotechandresearcheratCHUSainte-Justine.“Pretermbirth(PTB) istheprimarycauseofmortalityofnewbornandlongterm health disability mainly respiratory distress syndrome, bronchopulmonary dysplasia,necrotizing enterocolitis, retinopathy of prematurity and brain hemorrhage, and there are noeffectivetreatmenttodaythataddressescriticallyimportantutero-placentalinflammationtotheplacentaandfetus.Rytvelaoffersnotonlytoprolonggestationbyallowingincreasedmaturationof the fetus, but also reduces neonatal mortality and improves fetal/neonatal outcome, mostimportantlyregardingneuro-development.Thisisafirst”.The article “Antenatal suppression of interleukin-1 protects against inflammation-induced fetalinjury and improves neonatal and developmental outcomes in mice” is available athttps://rytvel.com/news-publications-and-credentials/,belowthenewsreleases.

AboutRYTVELBiotechandRytvelaRYTVEL Biotech will be the first company exploring a new paradigm therapy to developRytvela, aneffectivedrugtoendpretermbirthtothebenefitofwomenandnewborns.Rytvela(alinear7aminoacid

peptide)isthefirstsmalldrugcandidateselectivetothemajorpro-inflammatoryinterleukin-1receptor.Pre-clinicalstudieshavebeencorroboratedbythreeindependentacademiclaboratories(UofMontreal,U of Alberta in Canada, andU of Adelaide, Australia). These blinded studies performed separately andindependently demonstrate that Rytvela suppresses utero-placental inflammation, significantlyreduces/suppressespretermbirth(PTB),newborndeathandpreventsmajororgandisruptionincludingofbrain,yieldingnormalgrowthtrajectory.RytvelawasinventedbyDrSylvainChemtobandhisteamattheCHUSainte-JustineResearchCenterinMontreal,Canada.www.rytvel.comAbouttheCHUSainte-JustineResearchCenterCHUSainte-JustineResearchCenterisaleadingmother-childresearchinstitutionaffiliatedwithUniversitédeMontréal.Itbringstogethermorethan200researchinvestigators,includingover90clinician-scientists,as well as 385 graduate and postgraduate students focused on finding innovative prevention means,fasterandlessinvasivetreatments,aswellaspersonalizedapproachestomedicine.TheCenterispartofCHU Sainte-Justine, which is the largestmother-child center in Canada and second pediatric center inNorthAmerica.www.research.chusj.orgAboutPTB(Pretermbirth)PTB isdefinedasbirthoccurringbefore37weeksofgestationandbefore32weeks forearlypre-term.PTBoccursin~10%ofbirths(~550,000inNorthAmerica).EarlyPTBin2to3%ofbirth.ThemajorcauseofPTB isutero-placental inflammation.The consequencesarenewborndeath (more than1millionperyearworldwide), severe life-longhealthhandicaps especially tobrain, lungs and cardiovascular system.The current treatments, namely tocolytic agents have no or very little efficacy, and none of themaddressestheutero-placentalinflammation.ThecostsrelatedtoPTBintheUSAwerereportedin2017tobe$40billion/year.AbouttheJournalofimmunologyThe Journalof Immunology (The JI) publishesnovel,peer-reviewed findings inall areasofexperimentalimmunology, including innateandadaptive immunity, inflammation,hostdefense, clinical immunology,autoimmunityandmore.TheJIispublishedbyTheAmericanAssociationofImmunologists(AAI)andhasanimpactfactorof5.22.

MediaContact:DanielGranger,L.LL.,MBA,APR,FSCRP,IAST.+1514840-7990M.+1514232-1556daniel.granger@acjcommunication.comACJCommunicationScientific,FinancingandBDContacts:JeanPaulCastaigneMD,MBACo-FounderandCEORYTVELBiotechjpcastaigne@jpcbiotech.com+1514518-5500

SylvainChemtobMD,PhDCo-founderandCSORYTVELBiotechsylvain.chemtob@gmail.com+1514585-4604