Aratana Therapeutics Announces Positive Top-Line Results from AT-001 Pivotal Field Study in Client-Owned Dogs with Osteoarthritis

KANSAS CITY, Kan., Dec. 18, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Aratana Therapeutics, Inc. PETX, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the licensing, development and commercialization of innovative medications for companion animals, today announced positive results from its pivotal field study of AT-001 (Grapiprant), the company's innovative drug for treating pain in dogs with osteoarthritis.  In the study, dogs receiving AT-001 demonstrated improvements in pain assessment scores that were statistically significant compared to placebo (p<0.05) at a once-daily oral dose.  Aratana expects to commence commercialization upon FDA approval, which Aratana anticipates in 2016.

The blinded, placebo-controlled, multi-center dose-ranging study of AT-001 enrolled 280 client-owned dogs with osteoarthritis.  Dogs were randomized equally into one group treated with AT-001 and one group treated with placebo.  Dogs were dosed for 28 days, and effectiveness was determined by a standard protocol utilizing a validated owner-assessed pain score. 

Ernst Heinen, DVM, Ph.D., Head of Drug Evaluation and Development for Aratana Therapeutics, stated, "We are very pleased with these results, which gives us confidence in moving forward towards approval of this novel drug."

Steven St. Peter, M.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Aratana Therapeutics, added, "We believe AT-001 has the potential to be an important product in the well-established pain market.  We look forward to continuing our dialogue with the FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine regarding the AT-001 program."

Aratana will discuss these results in more detail when the final study reports are available.

About Aratana Therapeutics

Aratana Therapeutics is a pet therapeutics company focused on licensing, developing and commercializing innovative biopharmaceutical products for companion animals. Aratana believes that it can leverage the investment in the human biopharmaceutical industry to bring therapeutics to pets in a capital and time efficient manner. The company's pipeline includes therapeutic candidates targeting pain, inappetence, cancer, viral diseases, allergy and other serious medical conditions.  Aratana believes the development and commercialization of these therapeutics will permit veterinarians and pet owners to manage pets' medical needs safely and effectively, resulting in longer and improved quality of life for pets. For more information, please visit www.aratana.com.

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This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements contained in this press release that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements, including without limitation statements with respect to expectations regarding the timing of discussions with the FDA and approval of products; expectations regarding development programs, trials, studies and commercialization; expectations regarding in-licensing initiatives and collaborations; and expectations regarding the Company's plans and opportunities.

These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the following: our limited operating history and expectations of losses for the foreseeable future; our lack of commercial sales; our failure to obtain any necessary additional financing; market conditions and our ability to raise capital under the shelf registration statement from the sale of our securities; our substantial dependence on the success of certain of our lead product candidates, our inability to identify, license, develop and commercialize additional product candidates; our inability to obtain regulatory approval for our existing or future product candidates; the lack of commercial success of our current or future product candidates; uncertainties regarding the outcomes of studies regarding our products; our inability to realize all of the anticipated benefits of our acquisitions of Vet Therapeutics and Okapi Sciences; the uncertainty of outcomes of the development of pet therapeutics, which is a lengthy and expensive process; effects of competition; our failure to attract and keep senior management and key scientific personnel; our reliance on third-party manufacturers, suppliers, partners and other third parties which conduct our target animal studies and certain other development efforts; our lack of a sales organization; our significant costs of operating as a public company; our current exemption from the requirement to maintain internal control over financial reporting, and any failure to achieve or maintain effective internal control over financial reporting in the future; changes in distribution channels for pet therapeutics; consolidation of our customers; impacts of generic products; limitations on our ability to use our net operating carryforwards; unanticipated safety or efficacy concerns; our limited patents and patent rights; our failure to comply with our intellectual property license obligations; our infringement of third party patents and challenges to our patents or rights; our failure to comply with regulatory requirements; our failure to report adverse medical events related to our products; legislative or regulatory changes; the volatility of our stock price; our status as an "emerging growth company," as defined in the JOBS Act; the potential for dilution if we sell shares of our common stock in future financings; the significant control over our business by our principal stockholders and management; the potential that a significant portion of our total outstanding shares could be sold into the market in the near future; effects of anti-takeover provisions in our charter documents and under Delaware law; and our intention not to pay dividends. These and other important factors discussed under the caption "Risk Factors" in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, on March 26, 2014, and the Company's Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on November 12, 2014, along with our other reports filed with the SEC could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements made in this press release.  Any such forward-looking statements represent management's estimates as of the date of this press release. While we may elect to update such forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we disclaim any obligation to do so, even if subsequent events cause our views to change. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any date subsequent to the date of this press release.

Contacts:

For investor inquires:
Aratana Therapeutics, Inc.

Craig Tooman
ctooman@aratana.com; (913) 353-1026

For media inquiries:
Tiberend Strategic Advisors, Inc.
Andrew Mielach
amielach@tiberend.com; (212) 375-2694

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SOURCE Aratana Therapeutics, Inc.