Mr. Dominic Gray reports

SERNOVA ANNOUNCES BIOTECH VETERAN AS NEW CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER

David Swetlow, CPA, CA, has joined Sernova Corp. as chief financial officer.

Mr. Swetlow is a veteran of the high-tech and life sciences industries with over 20 years in various senior management, board and advisory roles for start-up, acceleration, and high-growth stage companies, including multiple Toronto Stock Exchange and Nasdaq-listed biotech companies amongst them QLT Inc. and Protox Therapeutics Inc.

"Mr. Swetlow's extensive financial and business experience with high-growth stage and public companies will bolster Sernova's management team. Adding a full-time CFO at this inflection point for the company with our recent announcement of initial positive early efficacy indicators for our Cell Pouch phase I/II U.S. clinical trial for Type 1 diabetes and ongoing business development activities will accelerate execution of the company's financial, business and capital markets goals and strategies," said Dr. Philip Toleikis, president and chief executive officer of Sernova.

Sernova's outgoing CFO, Sean Hodgins, will assist with the transition as he continues to provide contract CFO services to his technology company clients. Sernova would like to thank Mr. Hodgins for his contribution and wishes him well in his future endeavours.

In connection with Mr. Swetlow's appointment, Sernova has granted an aggregate of 750,000 stock options on Oct. 23, 2019, each such option being exercisable into one common share at a price of 21 cents per share. The options will vest over 36 months and expire after 10 years.

About Sernova's clinical trial

Sernova is conducting a phase I/II non-randomized, unblinded, single-arm, company-sponsored trial to assess the safety and tolerability of islet transplantation into the company's patented Cell Pouch in participants with diabetes and hypoglycemia unawareness. The secondary objective is to assess efficacy through a series of defined measures. Importantly, patients enrolled in Sernova's clinical trial are incapable of producing C-peptide prior to implantation of Sernova's Cell Pouch and therapeutic cells.

Eligible subjects are implanted with Cell Pouches. Following the development of vascularized tissue chambers within the Cell Pouch, subjects are then stabilized on immunosuppression and a dose of purified islets, under strict release criteria, transplanted into the Cell Pouch.

A sentinel pouch is removed for an early assessment of the islet transplant. Subjects are followed for additional safety and efficacy measures for approximately six months. At this point, a decision is made with regard to the transplant of a second islet dose with subsequent safety and efficacy follow-up. Patients will be then further followed for one year to assess longer-term safety and efficacy.

For more information on this clinical trial, please visit the Clinical Trials website.

About Sernova's Cell Pouch

The Cell Pouch is a novel, proprietary, scalable, implantable macro-encapsulation device designed for the long- term survival and function of therapeutic cells. The device is designed to incorporate with tissue, forming highly vascularized tissue chambers for the transplantation and function of therapeutic cells, which then release proteins and hormones as required to treat disease. The device, along with therapeutic cells, has been shown to provide long-term safety and efficacy in small and large animal models of diabetes and has been proven to provide a biologically compatible environment for insulin-producing cells in humans.

About Sernova Corp.

Sernova is developing regenerative medicine therapeutic technologies using a medical device and immune protected therapeutic cells (such as human donor cells, corrected human cells and stem-cell-derived cells) to improve the treatment and quality of life of people with chronic metabolic diseases such as insulin-dependent diabetes, blood disorders including hemophilia, and other diseases treated through replacement of proteins or hormones missing or in short supply within the body.

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