Immune Pharmaceuticals Announces Publication of New Data on Eotaxin-1 in IBD; Patient Enrollment in Phase II UC Trial Continues

NEW YORK, Feb. 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Immune Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: IMNP), "Immune", a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, announces publication of new data on the role of eotaxin-1 in Ulcerative Colitis (UC) and Crohn's Disease (CD). The article, published in Digestive Disease Science¹, presents results of an observational clinical study intended to characterize serum and intestinal wall eotaxin-1 levels in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients, and explores the effect of targeting eotaxin-1 by specific antibodies in an animal IBD model. These studies were conducted under the oversight of Professor Goldin, Chairman of the Digestive Diseases Institute at Shaare Zedek Medical Center of the Hebrew University School of Medicine in Jerusalem, and supported in part by an unrestricted grant from Immune.

Professor Goldin, the principal investigator for the study, stated: "The observational clinical study shows that tissue eotaxin-1 correlates with disease severity in both UC and CD. Additionally, the classic DSS-mouse IBD model demonstrated that administration of anti-eotaxin-1 resulted in improvement in the inflammation and disease course of these mice. Professor Goldin continued, "We believe that the results obtained in the clinical study support the role of eotaxin-1 as a target in IBD, a therapeutic area in which over half of patients fail to sustain remission. A first-in-class alternative to currently available therapies will offer a new treatment option.

"There is room for improvement in treatment of IBD and maintenance of response," said Dr. Monica Luchi, Immune's Chief Medical Officer and EVP Global Drug Development. "Immune's goal is to focus on improving patient outcomes in this devastating illness. With bertilimumab, our eotaxin-1 inhibitor, patients who would be likely to respond based on eotaxin levels could be selected for treatment through precision medicine, either as first line biologic or in non-responders to current biologic standard of care. Our Phase 2a clinical study in Ulcerative Colitis continues to enroll, and we hope to have patient data by the end of 2016."

Bertilimumab phase 2a double blind placebo controlled trial plans to enroll 42 patients with moderate to severe UC and high tissue eotaxin-1 levels. Immune filed a patent in 2013 for anti-eotaxin-1 monoclonal antibodies for the treatment of UC and CD.

About Immune Pharmaceuticals:

Immune Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: IMNP) applies a personalized approach to treating and developing novel, highly targeted antibody therapeutics to improve the lives of patients with inflammatory diseases and cancer. Immune's oncology pipeline includes Ceplene®, Azixa® and Crolibulin® as well as bispecific antibodies and nanotherapeutics, including NanomAbs. Immune's lead product candidate, bertilimumab, is in phase II clinical development for moderate-to-severe ulcerative colitis as well as for bullous pemphigoid, an orphan autoimmune dermatological condition. Other indications being considered for development include atopic dermatitis, Crohn's disease, severe asthma and NASH (an inflammatory liver disease). Immune recently expanded its portfolio in immuno-dermatology with topical nano-formulated cyclosporine-A for the treatment of psoriasis and atopic dermatitis. Immune's non-core pipeline includes AmiKet™, a late clinical stage drug candidate for the treatment of neuropathic pain. For more information, visit Immune's website at www.immunepharmaceuticals.com, the content of which is not a part of this press release.

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¹ Adar, T., Shteingart, S., Ben-Ya'acov, A., Bar-Gill Shitrit, A., Livovsky D. M., Shmorak, S., Mahamid, M., Melamud, B., Vernea, F. and Goldin E.  (2016) The Importance of Intestinal Eotaxin-1 in Inflammatory Bowel Disease: New Insights and Possible Therapeutic Implications. Digestive Disease Science; Online Publication, 13 February 2016 (DOI 10.1007/S10620-016-4047-z).

SOURCE Immune Pharmaceuticals Inc.

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