Sareum Regulatory News (SAR)

SAREUM HOLDINGS PLC

("Sareum" or the "Company")

Issue of Options

The Company announces that it granted on 8 March 2019 the following share options (the "Options") to Dr Tim Mitchell, Chief Executive Officer, Dr John Reader, Chief Scientific Officer, Dr Stephen Parker, Non-executive Chairman, Dr Michael Owen, Non-executive Director and Mr Clive Birch, Non-executive Director.

Drs Mitchell and Reader will each receive an option over 23,633,388 Shares, exercisable by no later than 07 March 2029 in the case of 11,816,694 Shares at 0.7 pence, 5,908,347 Shares at 1.05 pence and 5,908,347 Shares at 1.4 pence per Share, respectively.

Dr Parker will receive an option over 8,100,000 Shares, exercisable by no later than 07 March 2029, in the case of 4,050,000 Shares at 0.7 pence, 2,025,000 Shares at 1.05 pence and 2,025,000 Shares at 1.4 pence per Share, respectively.

Dr Owen and Mr Birch will each receive an option over 2,857,143 Shares, exercisable by no later than 07 March 2029 in the case of 1,428,571 Shares at 0.7 pence, 714,286 Shares at 1.05 pence and 714,286 Shares at 1.4 pence per Share, respectively.

Following the grants of Options referred to above, the interests of Directors in options over Shares will be as follows:

For further information, please contact:

Notes for editors: 

Sareum is a specialist drug development company delivering targeted small molecule therapeutics, to improve the treatment of cancer and autoimmune disease. The Company generates value through licensing its candidates to international pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies at the preclinical or early clinical trials stage.

Sareum's leading clinical-stage programme, SRA737, a novel Checkpoint kinase 1 (Chk1) inhibitor licensed to NASDAQ-listed Sierra Oncology, is in Phase 2 clinical trials targeting ovarian and other advanced cancers. The key role of Chk1 in cancer cell replication and DNA damage repair suggests that SRA737 may have broad application as a targeted therapy in combination with other oncology and immune-oncology drugs in genetically defined patients.

Sareum is also advancing internal programmes focused on distinct dual tyrosine kinase 2 (TYK2) /Janus kinase 1 (JAK1) inhibitors through preclinical development as therapies for autoimmune diseases (SDC-1801) and cancers (SDC-1802). TYK2 and JAK1 have roles in pro-inflammatory responses in autoimmune diseases (e.g. psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel diseases and lupus) and tumour cell proliferation in certain cancers (e.g. T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and some solid tumours). The Company is targeting first human clinical trials in each indication in 2020.

The Company also has an Aurora+FLT3 inhibitor targeting haematological cancers, which is at the preclinical development stage.

Sareum Holdings plc is listed on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange, trading under the ticker SAR. For further information, please visit www.sareum.co.uk

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