VistaGen Therapeutics to Present at Biotech Showcase™ 2017

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Jan. 5, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- VistaGen Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: VTGN), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing new generation therapies for depression and other central nervous system (CNS) disorders, announced today that the Company will be presenting at the 9^th Annual Biotech Showcase™ conference.  Shawn Singh, Chief Executive Officer, will provide an overview of the Company and AV-101, its orally available, new generation, antidepressant prodrug candidate, on Tuesday, January 10, 2017, at 3:30 p.m. PST (6:30 p.m. EST).  The conference will be held in San Francisco from January 9^th -11^th.

A live audio webcast and replay of the presentation will be available by accessing the IR Calendar in the Investors section of VistaGen's website (www.vistagen.com). The replay of the webcast will be available for 90 days, starting approximately two hours after the presentation ends.  Please connect to VistaGen's website several minutes prior to the start of the webcast to ensure adequate time for any software download that may be necessary.

About AV-101
AV-101 (4-CI-KYN) is an orally available CNS prodrug candidate, currently in Phase 2 development, initially for the adjunctive treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD) in patients with an inadequate response to standard FDA-approved antidepressants. AV-101 also has broad potential utility in several other CNS disorders, including chronic neuropathic pain and epilepsy, as well as neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's disease and Huntington's disease.  

AV-101 is currently being evaluated in a Phase 2a monotherapy study in MDD, a study being fully funded by the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and conducted by Dr. Carlos Zarate Jr., Chief, Section on the Neurobiology and Treatment of Mood Disorders and Chief of Experimental Therapeutics and Pathophysiology Branch at the NIMH.

VistaGen is preparing to advance AV-101 into a 280-patient, U.S. multi-center, Phase 2b adjunctive treatment study in MDD in the first half of 2017, with Dr. Maurizio Fava of Harvard University as Principal Investigator.

About VistaGen
VistaGen Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: VTGN), is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing new generation therapies for depression and other central nervous system (CNS) disorders. VistaGen's lead CNS product candidate is AV-101, a new generation, orally available prodrug in Phase 2 development in the U.S. for treatment of major depressive disorder (MDD). AV-101 is currently being evaluated in a Phase 2a monotherapy study in MDD, a study being fully funded by the U.S. National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) and conducted by Dr. Carlos Zarate Jr., Chief, Section on the Neurobiology and Treatment of Mood Disorders and Chief of Experimental Therapeutics and Pathophysiology Branch at the NIMH. VistaGen is preparing to launch, in the first half of 2017, a 280-patient Phase 2b adjunctive treatment study of AV-101 in MDD patients with inadequate response to standard, FDA-approved antidepressants. Dr. Maurizio Fava of Harvard University will be the Principal Investigator of the Phase 2b study. AV-101's mechanism of action is fundamentally differentiated from all FDA-approved antidepressants, and all FDA-approved atypical antipsychotics used with them adjunctively to treat MDD, with potential to drive a paradigm shift towards a new generation of safer and faster-acting antidepressants.

VistaStem Therapeutics is VistaGen's wholly owned subsidiary focused on applying human pluripotent stem cell technology to discover, rescue, develop and commercialize proprietary new chemical entities (NCEs), including small molecule NCEs with regenerative potential, for CNS and other diseases, as well as potential cellular therapies involving stem cell-derived blood, cartilage and liver cells.  In December 2016, VistaGen exclusively sublicensed to BlueRock Therapeutics, a stem cell research company recently established by Bayer AG and Versant Ventures, rights to certain proprietary technologies relating to the production of cardiac stem cells for the treatment of heart disease. 

For more information, please visit www.vistagen.com and connect with VistaGen on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Forward-Looking Statements
The statements in this press release that are not historical facts may constitute forward-looking statements that are based on current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual future results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. Those risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, risks related to the development and commercialization of AV-101 and/or licensed and/or sublicensed cardiac stem cell technology for cell therapy, drug discovery, drug rescue or regenerative medicine, including the development and commercialization activities described above. These and other risks and uncertainties are identified and described in more detail in VistaGen's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). These filings are available on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. VistaGen undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements.

SOURCE VistaGen Therapeutics, Inc.