Exicure to Receive $25 Million Upfront Payment and Up to $725 Million in potential Milestones

CHICAGO, IL & CAMBRIDGE, MA, USA I November 14, 2019 I Exicure, Inc., (NASDAQ:XCUR) a pioneer in gene regulatory and immunotherapeutic drugs utilizing spherical nucleic acid (SNA™) technology, today announced that Allergan’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Allergan Pharmaceuticals International Limited, and Exicure, Inc. have entered into a global collaboration agreement to discover and develop novel treatments for hair loss disorders based on Exicure’s proprietary SNA technology.

Under the terms of the agreement, Allergan will receive exclusive access and options to license SNA-based therapeutics arising from two collaboration programs related to the treatment of hair loss disorders. Exicure will receive an upfront payment of $25 million and will conduct discovery and development in two collaboration programs for hair loss disorders. In the event that Allergan exercises an option, Allergan will be responsible for clinical development and commercialization of the licensed products. Exicure will be eligible to receive development and regulatory milestones of up to $97.5 million per program and commercial milestones of up to $265 million per program. Exicure will also be eligible to receive tiered royalties on worldwide net product sales of mid-single digit to mid-teens percentages on worldwide net product sales.

“We are excited to combine our knowledge of nucleic acid therapeutics with Allergan’s deep expertise in medical aesthetics to develop and commercialize innovative treatments for hair loss disorders.” said Dr. David Giljohann, chief executive officer of Exicure. “This collaboration is an exciting opportunity to advance Exicure’s SNA technology in an important new therapeutic area.”

Additional Details about the Collaboration and Hair Loss Program

One of the most common hair loss disorders and a subject of the collaboration is androgenetic alopecia also known as pattern baldness, affecting approximately 50 million men and 30 million women in the United States. It is estimated that over $3.5 billion a year is spent on treatments, the majority of which are ineffective.

Conference Call Today at 8:30am ET/7:30am CT

Exicure will hold a conference call at 8:30am ET to provide a corporate update and to discuss the strategic collaboration announced today. A live audio only webcast of the conference call can be accessed in the Investors section of the company’s website at www.exicuretx.com. To participate in the conference call, please dial 866-997-1948 or 270-215-9856 five minutes prior to start time. The conference ID is 9849047. An archived version of the webcast will be available on Exicure’s website for 30 days.

About Allergan plc

Allergan plc (NYSE: AGN), headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, is a global pharmaceutical leader focused on developing, manufacturing and commercializing branded pharmaceutical, device, biologic, surgical and regenerative medicine products for patients around the world. Allergan markets a portfolio of leading brands and best-in-class products primarily focused on four key therapeutic areas including medical aesthetics, eye care, central nervous system and gastroenterology. As part of its approach to delivering innovation for better patient care, Allergan has built one of the broadest pharmaceutical and device research and development pipelines in the industry.

With colleagues and commercial operations located in approximately 100 countries, Allergan is committed to working with physicians, healthcare providers and patients to deliver innovative and meaningful treatments that help people around the world live longer, healthier lives every day.

For more information, visit Allergan’s website at www.Allergan.com.

About Exicure

Exicure, Inc. is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing therapeutics for immuno-oncology, inflammatory diseases and genetic disorders based on our proprietary Spherical Nucleic Acid, or SNA technology. Exicure believes that its proprietary SNA architecture has distinct chemical and biological properties that may provide advantages over other nucleic acid therapeutics and may have therapeutic potential to target diseases not typically addressed with other nucleic acid therapeutics. Exicure’s lead program is in a Phase 1b/2 trial in patients with advanced solid tumors. Exicure is based outside of Chicago, IL and in Cambridge, MA.

For more information, visit Exicure’s website at www.exicuretx.com.

SOURCE: Exicure