InterMune Announces Support of The Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation Care Center Network and Patient Registry Initiative

BRISBANE, Calif., Dec. 10, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- InterMune (NASDAQ: ITMN) today announced its support of the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation, a leading patient advocacy organization dedicated to advancing care for people with pulmonary fibrosis worldwide, to establish the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation Care Center Network and Patient Registry.  The Care Center Network will launch in 2014 with nine prestigious academic medical centers implementing a care center model combining high-quality patient care with clinical research to collect essential information from patients to build the Registry.  This major initiative will be critical to improving the understanding of pulmonary fibrosis – a disease characterized by the decline of lung function – and will facilitate early diagnoses; provide quality, standardized care; expedite enrollment in clinical trials and enhance support services.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120827/SF62570LOGO)

Dan Welch, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of InterMune, said, "InterMune has spent more than a decade committed to advancing the science of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) – the most prevalent form of pulmonary fibrosis.  As part of our ongoing commitment, we are proud to support the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation to establish its Care Center Network and Patient Registry.  InterMune's vision is to alter the course of IPF – a challenging and deadly disease – through the development of new therapies that can provide hope to patients and their families.  We believe this work the Foundation is undertaking is a significant step towards benefiting the IPF community."

This project will eventually become the largest multi-center PF registry in the world.  The nine pilot centers include: The University of California San Francisco, The University of Washington in Seattle, Wash., Yale University, Vanderbilt University, The University of Chicago, The University of Pittsburgh, The University of Michigan, The University of Louisville and National Jewish Health in Denver, Colo.  Additional centers will be added each year.

"Establishing a patient registry for pulmonary fibrosis is a major milestone for this community," said Daniel M. Rose, M.D., Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation.  "While we have made important strides in understanding this illness, the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation Care Center Network and Patient Registry will increase the volume and consistency of high-quality data that will fuel our progress.  It will enable improvements in the health and quality of life for patients and help generate insights so that the research community can come closer to a cure.  We thank InterMune for their support and their ongoing dedication to the pulmonary fibrosis community."

About Pulmonary Fibrosis
Pulmonary fibrosis is a condition in which the lung tissue becomes thickened, stiff, and scarred. The medical terminology used to describe this scar tissue is fibrosis.  As the lung tissue becomes more "fibrotic," it is more difficult for the lungs to transfer oxygen into the bloodstream.  In most cases, there is no known cause for the development of pulmonary fibrosis.  When the cause is unknown, the disease is further characterized as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, or IPF.  The median survival time from diagnosis in IPF is two to five years, with a five-year survival rate of approximately 20-40 percent, which makes the disease more rapidly lethal than many cancers, including breast, ovarian and colorectal.  IPF typically occurs in patients over the age of 50, and is more common in men than in women.  IPF affects an estimated 50,000-70,000 people in the United States, and approximately 15,000-20,000 new cases of IPF are diagnosed each year.   

About InterMune
InterMune is a biotechnology company focused on the research, development and commercialization of innovative therapies in pulmonology and orphan fibrotic diseases.  In pulmonology, the company is focused on therapies for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a progressive, irreversible, unpredictable and ultimately fatal lung disease.  Pirfenidone, the only medicine approved for IPF anywhere in the world, is approved for marketing by InterMune in the EU and Canada as Esbriet^® and is currently in a Phase 3 clinical trial to support regulatory registration in the United States.  InterMune's research programs are focused on the discovery of targeted, small-molecule therapeutics and biomarkers to treat and monitor serious pulmonary and fibrotic diseases.  For additional information about InterMune and its R&D pipeline, please visit www.intermune.com.

Forward-Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, that reflect InterMune's judgment and involve risks and uncertainties as of the date of this release, including without limitation, InterMune's expectation regarding the anticipated academic medical centers that will be a part of the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation Care Center Network and Patient Registry initiative and the timing of the launch thereof; the initiative being critical to improving the understanding of pulmonary fibrosis, facilitating early diagnoses, providing quality, standardized care, expediting enrollment in clinical trials and enhancing support services; the work with the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation being a significant step towards achieving InterMune's vision to alter the course of IPF; the initiative increasing the volume and consistency of data that will fuel InterMune's vision, enabling improvements in the health and quality of life for patients and helping generate insights so that the research community can come closer to a cure; the estimated number of people in the United States that IPF affects and the estimated number of new cases of IPF diagnosed each year.  All forward-looking statements and other information included in this press release are based on information available to InterMune as of the date hereof, and InterMune assumes no obligation to update any such forward-looking statements or information.  InterMune's actual results could differ materially from those described in InterMune's forward-looking statements.

Other factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed in detail under the heading "Risk Factors" in InterMune's most recent annual report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on March 1, 2013 (the "Form 10-K") and other periodic reports filed with the SEC, including but not limited to the following: (i) the risks related to the uncertain, lengthy and expensive clinical development process for the company's product candidates, including having no unexpected safety, toxicology, clinical or other issues and having no unexpected clinical trial results such as unexpected new clinical data and unexpected additional analysis of existing clinical data; (ii) risks related to the regulatory process for the company's product candidates, including the possibility that the results of InterMune's 52-week Phase 3 clinical trial (ASCEND) having an FVC endpoint may not be satisfactory to the FDA for InterMune to receive regulatory approval for pirfenidone in the United States; and (iii) risks related to unexpected regulatory actions or delays or government regulation generally.  The risks and other factors discussed above should be considered only in connection with the fully discussed risks and other factors discussed in detail in the Form 10-K and InterMune's other periodic reports filed with the SEC, including its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended September 30, 2013, all of which are available via InterMune's web site at www.intermune.com.

SOURCE InterMune, Inc.