CytoTools with good marketing start for DPOCL in India despite noticeable pandemic-related restrictions

CytoTools with good marketing start for DPOCL in India despite noticeable pandemic-related restrictions

- Market launch of DPOCL in India noticeably influenced by COVID-19
- Despite limited distribution channels, nearly 10,000 treatments to date with increasing trend
- Diabetic Foot Society of India supports market launch at annual conference

Darmstadt, 22 February 2021 - CytoTools AG (ISIN DE000A0KFRJ1), a biotechnology holding company specializing in pharmaceutical and medical products, together with its licensing partner Centaur Pharmaceuticals, has achieved a good start to the marketing of its active ingredient for the treatment of diabetic foot syndrome in India. The market launch of the drug, which is marketed in India under the brand name Woxheal(R), was clearly overshadowed by the high prevalence of COVID-19 in India and the associated travel restrictions. However, given the severely limited opportunities to market the new drug through on-site sales appointments, the number of treatments performed is very promising.

"We were all aware from the outset that Corona would significantly complicate the launch of Woxheal(R) in India. However, the fact that this region, of all places, was to become one of the worst affected worldwide in the course of the year set the bar enormously high for our partner Centaur," explains Dr. Mark-André Freyberg, CEO of CytoTools. "Even if this means we can only book marginal revenues from licensing income in the short quarter Q4 2020, these were still groundbreaking months for our company. For the first time, doctors prescribed our drug. For the first time, people who have been through a terrible ordeal were treated and cured with our drug outside of clinical trials. This shows us that we now only need to go through the prescribed processes for approval in Europe in order to achieve success here next year as well."

Against the backdrop of pandemic-related harsh cuts to daily life in India and imposed domestic travel restrictions, Centaur was able to utilize only a fraction of its total sales force of approximately 1,500 employees during the launch. Travel outside the state of Maharashtra was also not possible, further limiting sales efforts. Instead, reaching out to medical specialists had to be done through video conferencing and phone calls. "This may work well for conveying more in-depth information about a product to one's counterpart," says Dr. Dirk Kaiser, Chief Research & Development Officer at CytoTools. "However, to give a physician an understanding of a fundamentally new drug in an initial consultation, for which there is no comparative product on the market, this route is unfortunately far from optimal."

Support for the market launch is also being provided to CytoTools and its licensing partner Centaur by the Diabetic Foot Society of India. The president of the Indian foundation, Dr. Arun Bal, acknowledged the approval of DPOCL in India as a milestone in the fight against diabetic foot syndrome during his presentation at the 18th annual conference on 19 December 2020. "With DPOCL, we have a completely new chemical entity that offers key advantages over established therapies," said Dr. Arun Bal. "In the more than 50 cases, in which I have already treated patients with DPOCL, there was significantly faster and, above all, complete wound healing. At the same time, there were no side effects such as keloids or hypersensitivity."

For the current fiscal year 2021, the Management Board expects the nationwide product roll-out of Woxheal(R) to be completed and sales figures to increase significantly. "Ultimately, however, our success here depends quite decisively on the further course of the pandemic in India. As long as it is still only possible to address medical professionals in such a limited way, it is not possible to make any well-founded predictions for the year as a whole," says CEO Dr. Mark-André Freyberg. "Much more decisive for us this year will be the progress of Phase III in Europe anyway. Here we are making good progress and still expect the interim results of the study in the fourth quarter of 2021."

Further information on CytoTools AG, its affiliated subsidiaries and the holding company's drug pipeline is available on the company's website at www.cytotools.de.

Contact:
CytoTools AG
Ingo Middelmenne
Investor Relations
Mobile: +49-174-9091190
Email: middelmenne@cytotools.de

About CytoTools:

CytoTools AG is a German biotechnology holding company which translates results from basic cell biological research on cell growth and programmed cell death into new forms of therapy for the causal treatment of disease and healing. CytoTools' versatile product pipeline includes self-developed chemical compounds and biopharmaceuticals which have the potential to offer new treatment options in dermatology, cardiology, urology and oncology. CytoTools is structured as a technology holding and investment company and has holdings in the subsidiaries DermaTools Biotech GmbH (62 %) and CytoPharma GmbH (50 %).

Disclaimer
This release contains certain forward-looking statements. These reflect the opinion of CytoTools as of the date of this release. The results actually achieved by CytoTools may differ considerably from the statements made in the future-oriented statements. CytoTools is not obliged to update forward-looking statements.