TORONTO, Canada I March 9, 2023 I Satellos Bioscience Inc. (TSXV: MSCL | OTCQB: MSCLF) (“Satellos” or the  “Company“), a drug discovery company developing small molecule therapeutics to regenerate muscle as  a new approach to treating disease conditions from muscular dystrophy to aging, is pleased to announce  additional results from further preclinical studies using the Company’s lead drug candidate SAT-3153.  

The Company has designed SAT-3153 to be a selective inhibitor of a protein kinase (code named “K9”)  which it identified as a potential drug target to modulate polarity in muscle stem cells. On January 3, 2023,  the Company indicated that results from preclinical ADME, PK and in vivo studies led to designation of  SAT-3153 as its lead pre-IND drug development candidate (“DC”) for the treatment of Duchenne muscular  dystrophy (“Duchenne”). In a subsequent study with SAT-3153, in an acute injury model intended to  determine if drug is acting rapidly on mechanism, Mdx mice treated with SAT-3153 displayed a statistically  significant effect on polarity through new progenitor muscle cell formation vs placebo controls (n=5 per  group), after one (1) week. In a further in vivo study, Mdx mice treated with SAT-3153 four times per week  vs placebo controls (n=8 per group) showed a 19% increase in muscle force after two weeks. Additional  preclinical studies have shown SAT-3153 to have no binding of the hERG channel (a key requirement to  rule out possible cardiac toxicity), a plasma protein binding level of < 90% (indicating significant levels of  free drug are available to initiate a therapeutic effect), and oral bioavailability.  

“We see these results as a positive indication that SAT-3153 is on mechanism, affects skeletal muscle  regeneration as intended, and has the potential to be safe on critical drug development criteria,” said  Frank Gleeson, President and CEO of Satellos. “As preliminary, fact-finding studies which were designed  to contribute to the profile of SAT-3153 as a DC and establish early efficacy benchmarks to guide further  development studies, we are very pleased with these outcomes”. 

Commented Dr. Michael Rudnicki, the Company’s co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer, “It is so  gratifying to see that we have our own, proprietary drug with the potential to reset the body’s innate  regenerative ability in skeletal muscle. It has been our dream to develop a small molecule that could help  people living with Duchenne regardless of their exon mutation status, level of background AAV antibodies  or ambulatory status. We are one step closer to making that dream a reality”. 

Dr. Phil Lambert, Chief Technical Officer with overall responsibility for drug development at Satellos,  added, “These results build further confidence in SAT-3153’s potential as a treatment for Duchenne and  other muscle disorders. We will now focus on the next steps in the process, including to establish the  preferred oral dosing paradigm to optimize the drug’s beneficial effects on skeletal muscle which we  believe have the potential to be cumulative and sustainable over time. In parallel, we have initiated and  will continue to drive the prescribed pre-IND studies required to be included in an IND submission prior  to initiating human clinical trials.”  

Satellos asserts that a dysfunction in the normal process of stem cell polarity in response to muscle  damage represents a previously unrecognized root cause of Duchenne. The goal of correcting polarity in  Duchenne is to restore the body’s innate ability to regenerate muscle in response to the ongoing damage 

experienced by people living with Duchenne. SAT-3153 has been designated by Satellos as its lead drug  candidate and the Company is pursuing pre-IND development activities.  

About Satellos Bioscience Inc. 

Satellos is a biotechnology company dedicated to developing life-changing medicines to treat  degenerative muscle conditions. Our scientists discovered what we believe to be a previously  unrecognized root cause of skeletal muscle degeneration. One which has the potential to transform how  muscle disorders are treated. Our scientific founder, Dr. Michael Rudnicki, is a thought leader who  discovered and has shown how muscle stem cells regulate muscle repair and growth throughout life. He  has shown how defects in a process known as stem cell “polarity”, which controls how muscle stem cells  divide to create muscle progenitor cells, lead to a failure of muscle regeneration in Duchenne and  potentially other muscle disorders. As a result of this ongoing inability to produce sufficient numbers of  new muscle cells, the muscles of people living with Duchenne are unable to keep up with and repair the  continuous and accumulating damage their muscles experience. Satellos’ lead program is focused on  developing an oral therapeutic drug (i.e., a pill) intended to correct muscle stem cell polarity and restore  the body’s innate muscle repair and regeneration process. We believe our unique therapeutic approach  represents a potential disease modifying treatment for Duchenne and other dystrophies, offering new  hope to patients. To expand our programs to other degenerative muscle conditions or disorders, Satellos  has created a proprietary discovery platform, MyoReGenX™, which we utilize to identify disease situations  where deficits in muscle stem cell polarity and regeneration occur and are amenable to therapeutic  treatment. For more information about or to discuss potential collaborations with Satellos concerning our  discovery platform and therapeutic candidates or our subsidiary Amphotericin B Technologies Inc., please  contact Ryan Mitchell, Ph.D., Director – Business Development at rmitchell@satellos.com or visit  Satellos.com. 

SOURCE: Satellos Bioscience