PurMinds Appoints Leading Drug Designer, Dr. Alan Kozikowski, to Chief Scientific Officer and Appoints Pharma Veteran Dr. Max Arella to Scientific Advisory Board

Toronto, Ontario and Boston, Massachusetts--(Newsfile Corp. - November 9, 2023) - PurMinds NeuroPharma ("PurMinds™" or the "Company"), a clinical-stage neuroscience company focused on neurological and neurodegenerative disorders and advancing a robust clinical development pipeline of small molecules, psychedelic compounds and other modalities, today announced the appointment of one of the world's leading drug designer, Professor Alan Kozikowski, Ph.D., to the role of Chief Scientific Officer ("CSO"), and the appointment of experienced pharma and technology transfer expert, Professor Max Arella, Ph.D., to the Company's Scientific Advisory Board ("SAB").

Dr. Kozikowski is a Global leader in medicinal chemistry designing Novel Chemical Entities (NCEs) for oncology and neuroscience. A Professor of over 40 years at several prestigious universities in the field of medicinal chemistry, Dr. Kozikowski is known for his research on 5-HT receptors, HDAC inhibitors, and GSK-3 inhibitors, and has over 100 patents and over 550 publications under his belt. Dr. Kozikowski is also a serial pharmaceutical entrepreneur and one of the most prolific inventors in the psychedelic drug discovery and development field, having founded and co-founded multiple biotech companies such as Bright Minds Biosciences, with hundreds of NCEs designed under his stewardship. A number of his inventions are in various stages of clinical development or are now marketed drugs. The extensive experience of Dr. Kozikowski in the application of chemistry to biological problems, especially his past success with novel therapeutics for brain diseases, will guide PurMinds to expand and accelerate its valuable clinical asset portfolio, especially non-hallucinogenic psychedelic inspired NCEs for neurological disorders.

Previously sitting on PurMinds' SAB board, Dr. Kozikowski has also brought to PurMinds his new NCE invention, HDAC6 inhibitor SW-200, that may be highly selective for neurological disorders such as Chemotherapy-Induced Cognitive Impairment ("CICI"), Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis ("ALS") and Alzheimer's Disease ("AD").

Dr. Arella is a seasoned drug development and technology transfer expert and former drug scout for big pharmaceutical companies. Dr. Arella served as Chief Scientist and member of Scientific Advisory Boards of small, medium and large pharmaceuticals companies since 1996. As former Chairman of the Virology Research Centre of INRS-Institute Armand-Frappier- University du Quebec, Dr. Arella, Ph.D. has a wealth of experience in academic research, scientific consultation and technological start-ups. Previously PurMinds' acting CSO, Dr. Arella was instrumental in guiding PurMinds' business strategy in drug development.

"We are extremely excited to have Dr. Kozikowski officially joining PurMinds to lead our efforts to source and develop the best therapeutic solutions to devastating neurological disorders. Dr. Kozikowski's years of experience combined with the expertise of PurMinds' Chief Innovation Officer, Dr. Amy Reichelt, and her years of research in neuroscience, will ensure that PurMinds will play a significant role in addressing devastating neurological disorders. We are also grateful for Dr. Arella's continuous guidance to PurMinds team not only for keeping us at the forefront of leading-edge of neuroscience technology, but also intelligently fine-tuning our business model to make PurMinds an increasingly successful venture," said PurMinds' Chief Executive Officer, Janet Qi.

"In my increased role as the CSO, I will be working closely with Dr. Reichelt, alongside other committed and talented scientific team members, to bring PurMinds' clinical pipeline to the next level," said Dr. Kozikowski.

"PurMinds has a unique business model to mitigate the inherent risk in drug development. I am extremely pleased with the progress the Company has achieved so far and the direction it is going, and am ever so excited to guide its scientific and business strategy," added Dr. Arella.

ABOUT PURMINDS

PurMinds™ is a neurological drug development company pursuing breakthrough solutions to neurological and neurodegenerative disorders and operating within a key innovation area in pharmaceutical drug development. Its clinical pipeline includes innovative therapeutics that combine proven mechanisms of action with exciting new discoveries regarding the powerful ability of psychedelics and other psychoplastogens to rapidly promote neuroplasticity and neuro-rejuvenation, and its drug development program includes the potential for FDA "Breakthrough Designation" with a fast track to Phase IIa, The company's Ontario NeuroLab was granted a Health Canada Controlled Drugs and Substances Dealer's License authorizing the production, formulation and global supply of pharma-grade Psychedelic compounds including Psilocybin and MDMA for clinical trials and research studies.

PurMinds™ champions a de-risked business model that includes a multi-target approach to drug development, progressing short and mid-term revenue paths accompanied by long-term value creation through the accelerated development of novel therapeutics.

For further information about PurMinds NeuroPharma, please visit the Company's website at PurMinds.com^[1].

Media Contacts

Kristina SpionjackHLTH CommunicationsPr@hlthcommunications.com^[2]

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and assumptions and accordingly, actual results and future events could differ materially from those expressed or implied in such statements. You are hence cautioned not to place undue reliance on forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of present or historical fact are forward-looking statements, including statements with respect to PurMinds™' future business plans and partnerships. Forward-looking statements include words or expressions such as "proposed", "anticipated", "will", "subject to", "near future", "in the event", "would", "expect", "prepared to" and other similar words or expressions.

Forward-looking statements are based on the opinions and estimates of management at the date the statements are made and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events or results to differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements. Some of the risks and other factors could cause results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements which include, but are not limited to: the ability of PurMinds™ ' to secure patent protection; the regulatory environment in which PurMinds™ operates; the ability of PurMinds™ to carry out its business plans and unforeseen challenges in carrying out such plans; trends in the future use of psychedelics; general business, economic, competitive, political and social uncertainties; the state of capital markets; risks relating to general economic, market and business conditions; and other unforeseen events, developments, or factors causing any of the aforesaid expectations, assumptions, and other factors ultimately being inaccurate or irrelevant. The forward-looking information contained in this news release is expressly qualified by this cautionary statement. We disclaim any obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable law.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/186695^[3]

References

1. ^{^} PurMinds.com (api.newsfilecorp.com)
2. ^{^} Pr@hlthcommunications.com (www.newsfilecorp.com)
3. ^{^} https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/186695 (api.newsfilecorp.com)