Conatus Pharmaceuticals to Highlight Anticipated Clinical Data Readouts at Upcoming Investor Conferences

SAN DIEGO, March 05, 2018 -- At three upcoming investor conferences in March, Conatus Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:CNAT) President, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder, Steven J. Mento, Ph.D., and Conatus Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer, Keith W. Marshall, Ph.D., M.B.A., will focus on the company’s expected announcements of clinical trial results.

“We intend to use the upcoming conferences to provide context for our four planned data readouts, the first being the announcement of top-line results from our POLT-HCV-SVR trial in the second quarter,” said Dr. Mento. “This randomized, placebo-controlled Phase 2b trial is evaluating two years of treatment with emricasan, our first-in-class pan-caspase inhibitor, in post-orthotopic liver transplant (POLT) recipients with liver fibrosis or cirrhosis post-transplant as a result of recurrent hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection who have successfully achieved a sustained viral response (SVR) following HCV antiviral therapy.”

“In collaboration with Novartis, we expect to announce top-line results from four ongoing Phase 2b clinical trials in 2018 and 2019, including the POLT-HCV-SVR trial, two trials in nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) cirrhosis, and one in NASH fibrosis,” said Dr. Marshall. “We are also advancing with our independent pipeline expansion activities and expect to provide further updates later this year. We believe our current financial resources, together with the anticipated reimbursements for 50% of the costs for the four ongoing clinical trials, without including any potential milestone payments under the Novartis collaboration, are sufficient to maintain operations through top-line results from all four Phase 2b clinical trials by the end of 2019, as well as to fund initial pipeline expansion activities.”

• At the Roth Capital Partners 30^th Annual Conference (March 11-14 in Laguna Niguel, CA), Dr. Mento will participate in two panel discussions on NASH cirrhosis on Monday, March 12, as part of the integrated Spring NASH Bash. Dr. Mento and Dr. Marshall will meet with investment professionals and will provide an overview and update presentation beginning at 1:30 p.m. ET on Monday, March 12.
  
  
• At the H.C. Wainwright 2^nd Annual NASH Investor Conference (March 19 in New York), Dr. Marshall will present a NASH-focused presentation beginning at 3:40 p.m.
   
• At the Oppenheimer Healthcare Conference (March 20-21 in New York), Dr. Mento and Dr. Marshall will meet with investment professionals and will provide an overview and update presentation beginning at 10:20 a.m. ET on Wednesday, March 21. An audio webcast and copy of the Oppenheimer conference presentation will be available in the Investors section of the company’s website at www.conatuspharma.com.

About Conatus Pharmaceuticals
Conatus is a biotechnology company focused on the development and commercialization of novel medicines to treat liver disease. In collaboration with Novartis, 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, caspase inhibitors have the potential to interrupt the progression of a variety of diseases. 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:  the timelines to announce results from the four ongoing clinical trials; expansion of the company’s development pipeline; the sufficiency of current financial resources to maintain operations through 2019, as well as to fund initial pipeline expansion activities; and caspase inhibitors' potential to interrupt the progression of a variety of diseases. 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 those risks described in the company’s prior press releases and in the periodic reports it files with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The events and circumstances reflected in the company’s 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, the company 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.

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