Evgen Pharma PLC - Comment on the COVID-19 vaccine announcement

Evgen Pharma plc

 ("Evgen" or the "Company")

Comment on COVID-19 vaccine announcement

Evgen Pharma plc (AIM: EVG), a clinical stage drug development company, notes the recent news that Pfizer have announced the first interim analysis of a Phase III COVID-19 vaccine. Evgen believe that multiple approaches will be needed to curtail this virus and the progress announced earlier this week is a hugely positive development.

As previously announced, Evgen have entered into a Phase II/III trial with the University of Dundee to investigate whether the Company's lead asset, SFX-01, can reduce the severity, or prevent the onset of, acute respiratory distress syndrome ("ARDS") including, but not exclusively in patients with suspected COVID-19. The Company confirms that this study is poised to commence recruitment, as announced on 23 October 2020 and will be providing a further update shortly.

The Phase II/III STAR trial (SFX-01 Treatment for Acute Respiratory Infections) has received all the necessary regulatory approvals needed to proceed and patient recruitment will begin shortly. Supplies of SFX-01 have already been delivered to the centre.

Dr Huw Jones, Evgen CEO, commented: "We are pleased to see such progress on a potential vaccine against COVID-19. Recently ARDS has been heavily associated with COVID-19 as it affects the respiratory tract, but it is and will remain a condition in its own right long after we have beaten the pandemic and will continue to be a huge problem for patients. There is a considerable unmet need for effective treatments for ARDS and the outcome of our study will hopefully show how we can use SFX-01 in a serious respiratory condition regardless of the infective agent involved."

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About Evgen Pharma plc 

Evgen Pharma is a clinical stage drug development company developing sulforaphane based medicines for the treatment of multiple diseases. The Company's core technology is Sulforadex®, a method for synthesising and stabilising the naturally occurring compound sulforaphane and novel proprietary analogues based on sulforaphane. The lead product, SFX-01, is a patented composition of synthetic sulforaphane and alpha-cyclodextrin.

Clinical data from the Company's open-label Phase II STEM trial has shown that SFX-01 can halt the growth of progressing tumours in patients with oestrogen-positive (ER+) metastatic breast cancer, and in some cases significantly shrink the tumour, whilst causing very few side effects.

The Company commenced operations in January 2008 and has its headquarters at The Colony, Wilmslow, Cheshire, and its registered office is at the Liverpool Science Park, Liverpool.  It joined the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange in October 2015 and trades under the ticker symbol EVG.  

For further information, please visit: www.evgen.com