Conatus Pharmaceuticals Announces Acceptance of Abstracts for EASL Meeting

- Late Breaker Oral Presentation of Phase 2 Liver Cirrhosis Trial Three-month Data -

- Poster of Preclinical Data Addressing Safety of Caspase Inhibition in Cancer Treatment -

SAN DIEGO, March 30, 2016 -- Conatus Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:CNAT) announced today the acceptance of two abstracts for presentation at The International Liver Congress™ 2016, the Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) in Barcelona, Spain, April 13-17, 2016.

An abstract detailing results from the three-month, double-blind, placebo-controlled stage of the company’s multicenter Phase 2 Liver Cirrhosis clinical trial of emricasan, the company’s first-in-class, orally active pan-caspase protease inhibitor, was accepted for a late breaker oral presentation. The oral presentation (#LBO5) entitled, “Emricasan (IDN-6556) orally for three months in patients with cirrhosis and MELD scores 11-18 improves clinical parameters of cirrhosis in patients with baseline MELD score ≥15,” will be delivered on Saturday, April 16, at 5:00 p.m. CET, by Catherine Frenette, M.D., Medical Director of Liver Transplantation at Scripps Clinic, La Jolla, CA, and a principal investigator in the Liver Cirrhosis trial.

An abstract addressing preclinical results in ex vivo cell culture and in vivo mouse models of hepatocellular carcinoma with IDN-7314, an orally active pan-caspase inhibitor closely related to emricasan, was accepted for presentation as a poster. The abstract was published today on the EASL website at http://ilc-congress.eu/abstracts/. The poster (#FRI-078) entitled, “The potent pan-caspase inhibitor IDN-7314 does not affect tumor growth rate nor does it antagonize the efficacy of sorafenib in models of hepatocellular carcinoma,” will be displayed on Friday, April 15, from 8:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. CET, and will be attended by presenting author Patricia C. Contreras, Ph.D., Vice President, Preclinical Development at Conatus and lead author on the poster, during a scheduled poster session.

About Conatus Pharmaceuticals
Conatus is a biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialization of novel medicines to treat liver disease. Conatus is developing its lead compound, emricasan, for the treatment of patients with chronic liver disease. Emricasan is a first-in-class, orally active pan-caspase inhibitor designed to reduce the activity of enzymes that mediate inflammation and apoptosis. Conatus believes that by reducing the activity of these enzymes, emricasan has the potential to interrupt the disease progression across the spectrum of liver disease. For additional information, please visit www.conatuspharma.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. All statements other than statements of historical facts contained in this press release are forward looking statements, including statements regarding emricasan’s potential to reduce caspase activity and interrupt disease progression across the spectrum of liver disease. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expect,” “plan,” “anticipate,” “could,” “intend,” “target,” “project,” “contemplates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” “potential” or “continue” or the negative of these terms or other similar expressions. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release and are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including:  Conatus’ ability to initiate and successfully complete current and future clinical trials; the risk that the preclinical results may not be predictive of future clinical results; the uncertainty of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s and other regulatory agencies’ approval processes and other regulatory requirements; and those risks described in Conatus’ prior press releases and in the periodic reports it files with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The events and circumstances reflected in Conatus’ forward-looking statements may not be achieved or occur and actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. Except as required by applicable law, Conatus does not plan to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements contained herein, whether as a result of any new information, future events, changed circumstances or otherwise.

MEDIA:  David Schull
Russo Partners, LLC
(858) 717-2310
[email protected]

INVESTORS:  Alan Engbring
Conatus Pharmaceuticals Inc.
(858) 376-2637
[email protected]