BETonMACE Top Line Results Web Conference 09/30/2019

PAUL MOON:  Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the company’s BETonMACE top line results webcast and conference call. My name is Paul Moon, Vice President of Investor Relations. Before I turn the call over to Donald McCaffrey, President and CEO, I’d like to advise listeners that certain statements made during this call may be considered forward-looking, as defined under applicable securities laws. By their nature, forward-looking statements are subject to numerous assumptions and risk factors, including those discussed in our annual information forum, and most recent MD&A, which are available on our website, or through CEDAR at https://www.sedar.com   With that, I’d like to turn the call over to Donald McCaffrey. Donald?

DONALD McCAFFREY: Thank you. Good morning ladies and gentlemen. As most of you will already know, we are clearly disappointed that the initial top line results for BETonMACE did not meet the rigorous academic requirements in confirming the primary endpoint. Please keep in mind that we have been in this boat before. We have only missed confirming the primary endpoint in this trial. This is in no way a signal of continuation problems for Apabetalone. Quite contraire [sic]. Apabetalone has now confirmed a safety profile worthy of a chronic use drug.  I believe future released data will confirm this drug works. This drug is safe. Properly partnered or financed, this drug will one day be a huge success.

But what now and what next? Well, first of all, you will witness a very volatile market over the next few days and weeks. I highly recommend you wait to study the upcoming facts and data prior to joining the expected volatility. There are many reasons to follow this course, but two main reasons would be:

·         I have recently spoken individually with many of our lead investors. In our case, the top ten hold over 70% of our stock. We believe they will be following our preferred path of holding their stock while waiting for additional data and development plans. Therefore the projected volatility will be representative of only a portion of the remaining 30%. We hope you will be following our preferred path as well.

·         My second main reason is data data data. To date we only have stated that the endpoint was not achieved. Due to academic embargo rules, we are not yet in a position to share additional important data. We will be submitting for a peer-reviewed publication and we have already received a late-breaker podium presentation at the American Heart Association in Philadelphia on November 16, 2019. That is only six weeks away and will be very enlightening for shareholders.

In addition, please note that our clinical steering committee made up of world-renowned cardiologists and clinical trialists remain fully supportive of Apabetalone and have not deviated from their continued support and planning for this program. I believe our data sets, properly published and acknowledged by the academic community, will once again confirm the worthiness of Apabetalone.

Now Dr. Wong, would you like to add a comment or two?

DR. NORMAN WONG: Thank you Don. As you all know, the primary endpoint of BETonMACE fell short of expectations, an outcome that none of us wanted to see. But the BETonMACE data set will contain extremely valuable information for continued development of this molecule. The sharing of this information is already set in motion, and we all await its release by a member of our steering committee at the AHA in November. In my mind, once the data has been presented it will be viewed as essential and most useful in bringing Apabetalone to the market. I know that most of you wanted a different outcome, but remember that science and especially medicine is a step-by-step process that is advanced by evidence. The BETonMACE data set is an important step in making Apabetalone available to patients. Thank you. Back to you Paul.

PAUL MOON: Thank you everyone again for joining us on today’s call and webcast. A replay of this webcast will be accessible on our website under the “Presentations and Events” section for one month following today. This concludes today’s event.