XORTX Announces Mr. Anthony J. Giovinazzo to Join as Special Advisor to the Board of Directors

CALGARY, Alberta, June 23, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- XORTX Therapeutics Inc. ("XORTX" or the “Company”) (CSE: XRX) (OTCQB: XRTXF), a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing innovative therapies to treat progressive kidney disease, is pleased to announce that Mr. Anthony J. Giovinazzo will become a Special Advisor to the CEO and the Board of Directors.

Mr. Giovinazzo’s mandate will be to advise Dr. Allen Davidoff, CEO and the Board of Directors on strategic and capital markets aspects of the Company’s activities and to aid in the advancement of our two key programs.

XORTX’s two key programs in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) and the treatment of acute kidney injury due to coronavirus COVID-19 infection are advancing toward clinical trial initiation. In parallel with this progress, critical activities regarding marketing and discussions with private equity funds will be a priority.

Mr. Giovinazzo stated, “My inquiries into XORTX have led me to conclude that the Company is a leader in the identification of the treatment of uric acid elevations, which have been scientifically and clinically demonstrated to have a debilitating effect on COVID-19, Polycystic Kidney Disease and Type 2 Diabetic Nephropathy patients. I am delighted to work with Dr. Allen Davidoff and the members of the Board to help them achieve capital accumulation and strategic inflection points in the not too distant future.”

Dr. Allen Davidoff added, “The XORTX team and I are extremely pleased to be working with Mr. Anthony Giovinazzo. He is a high caliber individual, with an exceptional track record of drug discovery and development, licensing as well as large pharma mergers and acquisition agreements. It is indeed a privilege to be able to work with Anthony and I personally look forward to building a strong and growing working relationship with him on behalf of XORTX.”

Mr. Giovinazzo is an internationally recognized expert in intellectual property defense, drug development and commercialization, including numerous licensing agreements, with more than 25 years’ experience in central nervous system diseases. He was most recently, the co-inventor, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Cynapsus Therapeutics, a NASDAQ listed specialty pharmaceutical company that developed the first successful sublingual apomorphine thin film strip for Parkinson’s disease. The drug today known as Kynmobi was approved for commercialization by the United States Food and Drug Administration on May 21, 2020. On June 15^th, Health Canada approved Kynmobi for sale in Canada. Mr. Giovinazzo built the leadership team, set the strategy, raised US$136 million including an over-subscribed IPO and NASDAQ listing and led the negotiations with several pharmaceutical companies that resulted in the Cdn. $841 million all cash acquisition by Sunovion Pharmaceuticals, a 120% premium to market close on the day of announcement.

Mr Giovinazzo is the co-author of several peer reviewed papers and author of several papers on strategic and financing issues in the biopharmaceutical industry. During his career, he was involved in several licensing and M&A transactions. In addition, he has raised in excess of US$750 million in private and public equity. He was a Canadian finalist in Life Sciences for the E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year in 2014 and in 2017, he was the recipient of the Finance Monthly Game Changers award as well as having been chosen as the inaugural recipient of the Bloom Burton award, which honors a single winner from several candidates, as the best of the best in Canadian Life Sciences as judged by a panel of US experts. He is a Chartered Director and Audit Committee Certified, both from The Directors College, a degree granting affiliate of McMaster University, Hamilton Canada. He also completed the Leadership and Strategy in Pharmaceuticals and Biotech in 2006 from Harvard Business School, Boston, MA; a Masters of Business Administration from IMD, Geneva Switzerland in 1986; a Graduate Certificate Studies in Canadian Law from Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Toronto, Ontario in 1984; and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Accounting at McMaster University in 1978. 

XORTX also announces that it has granted an aggregate of 3,150,000 options to purchase common shares of the Company exercisable at a price of $0.14 per share for a period of five years, to directors, officers and consultants of the Company.

About XORTX Therapeutics Inc.

XORTX Therapeutics Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company with three clinically advanced products in development – XRx-008 for Autosomal Dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease (ADPKD), XRx-101 for Coronavirus / COVID-19 infection and XRx-221 is a clinical stage program for Type 2 Diabetic Nephropathy (T2DN). The Company has strong intellectual property rights and established proof of concept through independent clinical studies. XORTX is working to advance its clinical development stage products that target xanthine oxidase to inhibit production of uric acid. At XORTX Therapeutics, we are dedicated to developing medications to improve the quality of life and future of patients. Additional information on XORTX Therapeutics is available at www.xortx.com.

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The CSE has neither approved nor disapproved the contents of this news release. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein.

Released June 23, 2020