Bergen - BerGenBio ASA (OSE: BGBIO), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel, selective AXL kinase inhibitors for unmet medical need, announces its results for the first quarter 2020.

Richard Godfrey, Chief Executive Officer of BerGenBio, commented: 'During these past few months, with the unprecedented global challenges caused by the COVID-19 crisis, we have been focussed on executing our strategy while prioritising the health, safety and well-being of our employees and their families, our patients and collaborators. The impact of COVID-19 on our clinical trials started to become visible towards the end of the first quarter and on our preclinical research operations in April. As far as feasibly possible whilst protecting enrolled patients, their families and hospital staff, we are pleased to have been able to ensure that the dozens of patients currently participating in our clinical trials with our lead candidate, bemcentinib, are continuing their treatment throughout the current restrictions. Overall, the Company is in a robust cash position, with good control of costs and is well placed to weather the current global disruption.

'In April we were delighted to have been invited to take part in a ground-breaking partnership between government, academia and industry to respond to COVID-19, with bemcentinib chosen as the first potential treatment to be fast-tracked in a new UK national multi-centre randomised Phase II clinical ACCORD (ACcelerating COVID-19 Research & Development platform) trial initiative. The aim of the trial is to get an early indication of bemcentinib's effectiveness in treating hospitalised patients with COVID-19. With strong pre-clinical data showing the role that AXL plays in infectious disease and promising anti-viral activity shown by bemcentinib, we are hopeful that we can play a significant role in the global effort to find suitable treatment options for COVID-19 patients. Four hospitals in the UK have already been initiated in the trial and are now screening for patients and we will provide updates and results as soon as is practically possible.'

About BerGenBio

BerGenBio is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing transformative drugs targeting AXL as a potential cornerstone of therapy for aggressive diseases, including immune-evasive, therapy resistant cancers and infectious diseases. The company's proprietary lead candidate, bemcentinib, is a potentially first-in-class selective AXL inhibitor in a broad Phase II oncology clinical development programme focused on combination and single agent therapy in lung cancer and leukaemia. A first-in-class functional blocking anti-AXL antibody, tilvestamab, is undergoing Phase I clinical testing. In parallel, BerGenBio is developing companion diagnostic tests to identify those patient populations most likely to benefit from bemcentinib: this is expected to facilitate more efficient registration trials supporting a precision medicine-based commercialisation strategy.

Contact:

Richard Godfrey

Tel: +47 917 86 304

Forward looking statements

This announcement may contain forward-looking statements, which as such are not historical facts, but are based upon various assumptions, many of which are based, in turn, upon further assumptions. These assumptions are inherently subject to significant known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors. Such risks, uncertainties, contingencies and other important factors could cause actual events to differ materially from the expectations expressed or implied in this announcement by such forward-looking statements.

This information is subject to the disclosure requirements pursuant to section 5-12 of the Norwegian Securities Trading Act.

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