Mr. David Wood reports

ESSA APPOINTS OTELLO STAMPACCHIA, PH.D., OF OMEGA FUNDS TO BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Essa Pharma Inc. has appointed Dr. Otello Stampacchia, PhD, founder and managing director of Omega Funds, a Boston-based biotech and medical device investment firm, to the company's board of directors. Mr. Stampacchia was appointed pursuant to the terms of a nomination rights agreement between the company and Omega Fund Management LLC.

Dr. Stampacchia founded Omega Funds in 2004 and leads the firm's investor relations and strategic initiatives. He is a member of Omega's investment committee and is also heavily involved in a number of the firm's therapeutic areas of interest, particularly in oncology, rare diseases and inflammatory disorders. Previously, Dr. Stampacchia led life sciences direct investments and diligence for health care venture fund investments at AlpInvest Partners, one of the largest private equity asset managers worldwide. Previously, he was the portfolio manager of the Lombard Odier Immunology Fund, a listed investment vehicle in Geneva, Switzerland, investing in public and private health care companies worldwide. Prior to this, Dr. Stampacchia was a member of the health care corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions team at Goldman Sachs (London and New York offices). Previously, he helped co-found the health care investment activities at Index Securities (now Index Ventures). Dr. Stampacchia has a PhD in molecular biology from the University of Geneva. He also holds a European doctorate in biotechnology from the European Union, and obtained an MSc in genetics from the University of Pavia. Dr. Stampacchia currently serves as a director for Gossamer Bio, Kronos Bio, Median Technologies and Replimune.

In connection with the appointment, the company has approved the granting of 12,000 incentive stock options to Dr. Stampacchia. The options are exercisable at a price of $3.58 (U.S.), vest in 48 equal instalments beginning from the date of grant and have a 10-year term.

About prostate cancer

Prostate cancer is the second most commonly diagnosed cancer among men and the fifth most common cause of male cancer death worldwide (Globocan, 2012). Adenocarcinoma of the prostate is dependent on androgen for tumour progression, and depleting or blocking androgen action has been a mainstay of hormonal treatment for over six decades. Although tumours are often initially sensitive to medical or surgical therapies that decrease levels of testosterone, disease progression despite castrate levels of testosterone generally represents a transition to the lethal variant of the disease, metastatic CPRC (mCRPC), and most patients ultimately succumb to the illness. The treatment of mCRPC patients has evolved rapidly over the past five years. Despite these advances, additional treatment options are needed to improve clinical outcomes in patients, particularly those who fail existing treatments, including abiraterone or enzalutamide, or those who have contraindications to receive those drugs. Over time, patients with mCRPC generally experience continued disease progression and worsening pain, leading to substantial morbidity and limited survival rates. In both in vitro and in vivo animal studies, Essa's novel approach to blocking the androgen pathway has been shown to be effective in blocking tumour growth when current therapies are no longer effective.

About Essa Pharma Inc.

Essa Pharma is a pharmaceutical company focused on developing novel and proprietary therapies for the treatment of castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) in patients whose disease is progressing despite treatment with current therapies. Essa Pharma believes that its proprietary compounds can significantly expand the interval of time in which patients suffering from CRPC can benefit from hormone-based therapies, by disrupting the androgen receptor (AR) signalling pathway that drives prostate cancer growth and by preventing AR transcriptional activity by binding selectively to the N-terminal domain (NTD) of the AR. In preclinical studies, blocking the NTD has demonstrated the capability to overcome the known AR-dependent mechanisms of CRPC. Essa Pharma was founded in 2009.

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