Addex Therapeutics : ADX71441 Program Awarded $5.3 Million Grant from US National Institute on Drug Abuse to Support Human Studies for the Treatment of Cocaine Use Disorder

Addex Therapeutics / Addex Therapeutics ADX71441 Program Awarded $5.3 Million Grant from US National Institute on Drug Abuse to Support Human Studies for the Treatment of Cocaine Use Disorder . Processed and transmitted by Nasdaq Corporate Solutions. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

Geneva, Switzerland, 3 October 2017 - Addex Therapeutics (SIX: ADXN) announced today that the US National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA, a division of National Institutes of Health (NIH)) has awarded a $5.3 million grant to support human studies of ADX71441, a GABA B Positive Allosteric Modulator (PAM), for the treatment of cocaine use disorder. The grant was issued as part of the Grand Opportunity in Medications Development for Substance-Use Disorders (U01), a cooperative agreement providing for both financial assistance and significant scientific support from the NIH to selected clinical programs.

The human studies of ADX71441 will be conducted in coordination with the Friends Research Institute (FRI) and principal investigator, Dr. Frank J. Vocci.  The studies are expected to begin in the first half of 2018.

"ADX71441 has shown very compelling data in a number of preclinical models of addiction, including cocaine, nicotine and alcohol," commented Dr Frank J. Vocci, President of FRI. "As such, we very much look forward to further evaluating this promising drug candidate in human trials."

"Securing funding and scientific support from NIH and NIDA to advance our GABAB PAM program into human studies is a significant achievement for Addex," commented Tim Dyer, CEO at Addex. "This grant is another example of Addex successfully executing its strategy of advancing the Company's robust pipeline of drug candidates through collaborations with government organizations."

Scientific advances have revolutionized our understanding of addiction as a chronic, relapsing disease and not a moral failure. Drug addiction is a complex illness which is characterized by intense and, at times, uncontrollable drug craving, along with compulsive drug seeking and use that persist even in the face of devastating consequences. Addiction affects multiple brain circuits, including those involved in reward and motivation, learning and memory, and inhibitory control over behavior. While a person initially chooses to take drugs, over time the effects of prolonged exposure on brain functioning compromise that ability to choose, and seeking and consuming the drug become compulsive, often eluding a person's self-control or willpower. Because drug abuse and addiction have so many dimensions and disrupt so many aspects of an individual's life, treatment is not simple. Addiction treatment must help the individual stop using drugs, maintain a drug-free lifestyle, and achieve productive functioning in the family, at work, and in society. Patients typically require long-term or repeated episodes of care to achieve the ultimate goal of sustained abstinence and recovery of their lives.

About GABAB Activation and ADX71441
Activation of gamma-aminobutyric acid subtype B (GABAB) receptor, a Family C class of GPCR, is clinically & commercially validated. Generic GABAB receptor agonist, baclofen, is marketed for spasticity and some spinal cord injuries, and used for overactive bladder (OAB), but is not commonly used due to variety of side effects of the drug and rapid clearance. ADX71441 is a potent selective positive allosteric modulator (PAM) which potentiates GABA responses at the GABAB receptor. ADX71441 is a novel, first-in-class, oral, small molecules that has demonstrated excellent preclinical efficacy and tolerability in several rodent models of pain, anxiety, addiction and OAB and have also proven efficacy in a genetic model of Charcot-Marie-Tooth Type 1A disease (CMT1A). ADX71441 differs from the generic drug baclofen in that it is a positive allosteric modulator rather than an orthosteric agonist at the GABAB receptor. ADX71441 only acts when the natural ligand (GABA) activates the receptor, and therefore respecting the physiological cycle of activation. It has been proposed that PAMs produce less adverse effects and lead to less tolerance than direct agonists (May and Christopoulos 2003; Langmead and Christopoulos 2006; Perdona et al. 2011; Urwyler 2011; Gjoni et al., 2008; Ahnaou et al).

About Addex Therapeutics
Addex Therapeutics (www.addextherapeutics.com) is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of novel, orally available, small molecule allosteric modulators for neurological disorders. Allosteric modulators are an emerging class of small molecule drugs which have the potential to be more specific and confer significant therapeutic advantages over conventional "orthosteric" small molecule or biological drugs. Addex's allosteric modulator drug discovery platform targets receptors and other proteins that are recognized as essential for therapeutic intervention - the Addex pipeline was generated from this pioneering allosteric modulator drug discovery platform. Addex's lead drug candidate, dipraglurant (mGluR5 negative allosteric modulator or NAM) has successfully completed a Phase 2a POC in Parkinson's disease levodopa-induced dyskinesia (PD-LID), and is being prepared to enter registration trials for PD-LID with support from the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research (MJFF). In parallel, dipraglurant's therapeutic use in dystonia is being investigated with support from the Dystonia Medical Research Foundation (DMRF). Addex's second clinical program, ADX71149 (mGluR2 positive allosteric modulator or PAM) is being developed in collaboration with Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc for epilepsy. In addition, ADX71441 (GABAB receptor PAM) has received regulatory approval to start Phase 1 and is being investigated for its therapeutic use in Charcot-Marie-Tooth Type 1A disease (CMT1A), cocaine and alcohol use disorder and nicotine dependence. Discovery programs include mGluR4PAM, mGluR7NAM, TrkBPAM and mGluR3NAM & PAM.

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Disclaimer / Forward-looking statements: This communication does not constitute an offer or invitation to subscribe for or purchase any securities of Addex Therapeutics Ltd. This publication may contain certain forward-looking statements concerning the Company and its business. Such statements involve certain risks, uncertainties and other factors which could cause the actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from those expressed or implied by such statements. Readers should therefore not place undue reliance on these statements, particularly not in connection with any contract or investment decision. The Company disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

The Research and development activities will be supported by the National Institute On Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number U01DA043900. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.