Prana Chief Scientific Advisor Receives Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award

MELBOURNE, Australia--()--Prana Biotechnology Limited (ASX:PBT/NASDAQ:PRAN) is pleased to congratulate its Chief Scientist, Professor Rudy Tanzi, who has been awarded a Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award for his work researching Alzheimer’s disease.

The American Ingenuity Award is the Smithsonian’s highest honour, recognising revolutionary breakthroughs in the arts, sciences, education and social progress.

Professor Tanzi shared the award for Natural Sciences with his research collaborator Dr Doo Yeon Kim.

“We congratulate Professor Tanzi on receiving this award, which recognises his work on Alzheimer’s and efforts to find effective treatments for this debilitating neurodegenerative disease,” said Prana CEO Geoffrey Kempler.

Professor Tanzi and Dr Kim received the award for developing a laboratory tool, dubbed “Alzheimer’s in a dish”, that enables researchers a chance to track the course of the disease and to quickly and cheaply test thousands of potential treatments that could halt its progress.

Prana is developing PBT2 as a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease. PBT2 is being developed for its potential to reduce beta- amyloid and tau levels and the toxic gain of function of these proteins to improve neuronal cell viability in the brain.

Professor Tanzi is the co-founding scientist of Prana. He has investigated the genetic causes of Alzheimer’s disease since 1982 and co-discovered the three genes which cause early-onset familial Alzheimer’s disease. He is the Director of Genetics and Aging Research Unit at the MassGeneral Institute of Neurodegenerative Diseases and the Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School and Vice-Chair of Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital.

About Prana Biotechnology Limited

Prana Biotechnology was established to commercialise research into Huntington disease, Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. The Company was incorporated in 1997 and listed on the Australian Stock Exchange in March 2000 and listed on NASDAQ in September 2002. Researchers at prominent international institutions including The University of Melbourne, The Mental Health Research Institute (Melbourne) and Massachusetts General Hospital, a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School, contributed to the discovery of Prana’s technology.

For further information please visit the Company’s web site at www.pranabio.com.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The Company has tried to identify such forward-looking statements by use of such words as "expects," "intends," "hopes," "anticipates," "believes," "could," "may," "evidences" and "estimates," and other similar expressions, but these words are not the exclusive means of identifying such statements. Such statements include, but are not limited to any statements relating to the Company's drug development program, including, but not limited to the initiation, progress and outcomes of clinical trials of the Company's drug development program, including, but not limited to, PBT2, and any other statements that are not historical facts. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, those risks and uncertainties relating to the difficulties or delays in financing, development, testing, regulatory approval, production and marketing of the Company’s drug components, including, but not limited to, PBT2, the ability of the Company to procure additional future sources of financing, unexpected adverse side effects or inadequate therapeutic efficacy of the Company's drug compounds, including, but not limited to, PBT2, that could slow or prevent products coming to market, the uncertainty of patent protection for the Company's intellectual property or trade secrets, including, but not limited to, the intellectual property relating to PBT2, and other risks detailed from time to time in the filings the Company makes with Securities and Exchange Commission including its annual reports on Form 20-F and its reports on Form 6-K. Such statements are based on management’s current expectations, but actual results may differ materially due to various factions including those risks and uncertainties mentioned or referred to in this press release. Accordingly, you should not rely on those forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual future results.

Contacts

Investor Relations
Buchan Consulting
Rebecca Wilson, +61 3 9866 4722
rwilson@buchanwe.com.au
Media
Buchan Consulting
Gavin Lower, +61 3 9866 4722
glower@buchanwe.com.au

Release Summary

Prana Chief Scientific Advisor receives Smithsonian American Ingenuity Award

Contacts

Investor Relations
Buchan Consulting
Rebecca Wilson, +61 3 9866 4722
rwilson@buchanwe.com.au
Media
Buchan Consulting
Gavin Lower, +61 3 9866 4722
glower@buchanwe.com.au