Modus Therapeutics Appoints Sedermera Fondkommission as Financial Advisor to Support Planned Listing on Nasdaq First North Growth Market

- Listing to fund the clinical development of sevuparin for sepsis/septic shock

- No pharmaceutical products are currently available that are specifically meant to treat patients with sepsis/septic shock

STOCKHOLM, March 15, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Modus Therapeutics Holding AB, a company developing innovative treatments for patients with high unmet medical needs, announces that it has appointed Sedermera Fondkommission as financial adviser to support its planned listing on Nasdaq First North Growth Market. The engagement of Sedermera Fondkommission follows the appointment of Claes Lindblad at Modus Therapeutics as its new Chief Financial Officer.

Modus Therapeutics recently announced that its plans to begin the clinical development of its proprietary candidate drug sevuparin as a new, important potential treatment for sepsis/septic shock. In addition, sevuparin has the potential to treat other forms of severe systemic inflammation that millions of patients suffer from because of serious medical conditions such as major trauma and surgery, autoimmunity, and viral infection.

Modus intends to finance this new, high potential sepsis/septic shock development program through an initial public offering on Nasdaq First North Growth Market later in 2021. To support this key corporate objective, the Company has signed an agreement with Sedermera Fondkommission to act as its financial adviser in the capitalization and listing process.

Sedermera Fondkommission is an active advisor in the segment of micro and small cap companies and has thus far acted as financial advisor in approximately 100 listings and executed around 300 capitalizations of various kind.

Claes Lindblad, CFO of Modus Therapeutics, commenting on today's announcement, said: "We are looking forward to partnering with Sedermera Fondkommission as we work towards successfully completing our planned IPO on the Nasdaq First North Growth Market. We believe that their team has the expertise and commitment needed to support our listing and accompanying fund raising. Sepsis / septic shock still demonstrates a very high unmet medical need and represents a significant initial market opportunity, which could be further broadened into other indications resulting from severe systemic inflammation." 

The most severe type of sepsis, septic shock, is a leading cause of death in intensive care units worldwide, with mortality rates typically exceeding 30%. There is currently no pharmaceutical product available that is specifically meant to treat patients with sepsis. As a result, it is one of the costliest conditions to treat in the hospital care setting. In 2019, US in-patient care costs for patients with sepsis were estimated to amount to $23 billion.

Sevuparin is a clinical stage, innovative proprietary polysaccharide drug with a multimodal mechanism of action, including anti-inflammatory, anti-adhesive and anti-aggregate effects. It acts by interfering with the harmful agents generated by white blood cells during systemic inflammation. This interference can break the molecular chain of events that lead to vascular damage and plasma leakage in patients with sepsis/septic shock and other systemic inflammatory manifestations. This activity has been shown in pre-clinical animal models as well as in vitro using human cells, where sevuparin has been effective in protecting the blood vessels and vital organs.

About Modus Therapeutics AB

Modus Therapeutics is a Swedish biotech company developing sevuparin with a focus on diseases with high unmet medical need. The Company's near-term focus is to develop sevuparin for patients with sepsis/septic shock, a severe and often fatal condition. Modus is backed by Karolinska Development AB (Nasdaq Stockholm: KDEV), KDev Investments AB, (Karolinska Development AB and Rosetta Capital), The Foundation for Baltic and European Studies (Östersjöstiftelsen) and Praktikerinvest AB.

About sevuparin

Sevuparin is a clinical stage, innovative proprietary polysaccharide drug with a multimodal mechanism of action, including anti-inflammatory, anti-adhesive and anti-aggregate effects. Sevuparin is a heparinoid with markedly attenuated anti-coagulation features that allows severalfold higher doses to be given, compared to regular heparinoids, without the associated risk for bleeding side-effects. Two routes of administration of sevuparin are currently being tested – an IV formulation for in-patient administration and a subcutaneous formulation that allows ambulatory and home care administration. 

About severe systemic inflammation

Severe systemic inflammation conditions (also known as systemic inflammatory response syndrome, SIRS) are feared complications of severe medical conditions such as infection, trauma, and major surgery. It is characterized by an uncontrolled systemic inflammatory response that can progress into shock and multi-organ failure. One such manifestation is septic shock, which is a leading cause of death in intensive care units worldwide, with mortality rates typically exceeding 30%.

In systemic inflammation reactions, vascular hyper-permeability caused by the inflammatory response, may cause significant endothelial damage, plasma leakage and excessive edema formation. The pulmonary circulation is particularly vulnerable leading to respiratory distress, and in time more advanced multi-organ damage ensues. Neutrophil granulocytes, releasing an array of potent inflammatory mediators exhibiting permeability–increasing properties, are critically involved in the capillary-alveolar barrier breakdown.

There is currently no pharmaceutical product available that can be specifically used to treat patients with uncontrolled systemic inflammation such as sepsis. The current standard of care for hospitalized patients relies on aggressive fluid therapy, vasopressors, oxygen, corticoid steroids and mechanical ventilation.

For further information, please contact:

John Öhd, CEO, Modus Therapeutics:
Tel: +46 70 766 8097
E-mail: john.ohd@modustx.com

Nathaniel Dahan or David Dible, Citigate Dewe Rogerson
Tel: +44 20 7638 9571
E-mail: modustx@citigatedewerogerson.com

Web: modustx.com