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Overview of Conatus Pharmaceuticals

Conatus Pharmaceuticals Inc., a privately-held biopharmaceutical company, is engaged in the development of innovative human therapeutics to treat liver disease and cancer. Chronic liver disease affects millions of people worldwide and can be caused by many different injuries to the liver including Hepatitis C and other viral infections, obesity, chronic alcohol abuse or autoimmune diseases. Conatus was founded by the executive management team of Idun Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in 2005 following the successful sale of Idun to Pfizer. In July of 2010, Conatus and Pfizer completed an agreement for Conatus to acquire Pfizer's Idun subsidiary.

Idun Pharmaceuticals was a privately-held biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery and development of innovative human therapeutics to control apoptosis. Apoptosis is a ubiquitous and fundamental genetically controlled pathway of programmed cell death that occurs in both normal and disease states. Excessive or insufficient rates of apoptosis contribute to a broad range of diseases including liver disease and cancer. The Idun assets reacquired from Pfizer included a Phase 2 drug candidate in liver disease (emricasan/IDN-6556), preclinical drug candidates including IDN-7314 for oncology, a development agreement with Abbott for an oncology drug candidate (now in Phase 2), and key intellectual property in the field of apoptosis.

We are developing a new class of drugs that modulate caspases (cell death proteases) involved in the apoptosis and inflammation pathways. Caspases are a family of cysteine proteases that become activated by apoptotic and pro-inflammatory stimuli. Apoptosis and inflammation have been implicated in a number of diseases including liver diseases, inflammatory diseases, respiratory diseases and diabetes.

We have designed small molecule, orally active, caspase inhibitors to block apoptosis of cells in a variety of organ systems. Our lead drug, emricasan, is a novel and proprietary caspase inhibitor that is being evaluated in clinical trials to determine its usefulness as a broad antifibrotic drug in delaying or preventing the progression of hepatitis to cirrhosis and other conditions that may destroy the liver.

Positive Phase 2 data have indicated that the oral formulation of emricasan was well tolerated, and significantly improved key markers of liver damage in patients chronically infected with Hepatitis C virus (HCV). Currently, safe and effective antifibrotic drugs are not yet available to treat a multitude of liver diseases.

We have a strong track record of success with collaborative drug discovery partnerships with large pharmaceutical companies, validating our proprietary targets and generating highly active lead compounds for clinical development. Since inception, we have raised $60.0 million in equity funding, and with the acquisition of Idun, reestablished the collaboration with Abbott Laboratories in cancer. We may also recognize future financial benefits in the form of royalties and milestone payments from drugs under development through this collaborative relationship.

We have a leadership position in intellectual property related to apoptosis. We have ongoing relationships with thought leaders in the field of apoptosis as well as in our targeted disease areas. We possess an extensive patent portfolio comprised of over 130 issued patents including patents covering composition of matter on validated drug targets and new chemical entities (NCEs) addressing those targets, as well as, broad fields of use, drug-screening assays, diagnostics and antibodies.

Corporate Strategy

Conatus is building a biopharmaceutical company that is focused in the areas of liver disease and oncology. Conatus has developed a novel drug development candidate, emricasan, which has had considerable clinical experience in target disease populations. Conatus has also developed lead molecules against validated targets in oncology, as well as an extensive license and patent portfolio, and potential milestone payments and royalties on compounds being developed in oncology by Abbott and Roche/Genentech, which is currently in Phase 2 clinical trials.

The key elements of our strategy are to: