KARO BIO RECEIVES FUNDING FROM THE NATIONAL MS SOCIETY TO DEVELOP ERBETA AGONISTS FOR TREATMENT OF PROGRESSIVE MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS

STOCKHOLM, 12 September 2013 - Karo Bio AB has been awarded $0,5 million from the National Multiple Sclerosis Society through Fast Forward to develop a novel treatment – ERbeta agonists -- for progressive forms of Multiple Sclerosis (MS). The funds will finance the further preclinical development of Karo Bio’s advanced compounds.

Karo Bio’s ERbeta agonist has the potential to slow disease progression in multiple sclerosis as preclinical models show that it protects neurons and restores myelin. Damaged myelin leads to symptoms of illness and disability in MS patients. This intended profile differs dramatically from currently approved MS therapies, which are used for the treatment of relapsing MS and reduce inflammation, but do not restore myelin or directly protect neurons.

“We are very pleased to have received this funding from the National MS Society to support our efforts to address important unmet medical needs among MS patients” says Per Bengtsson, CEO of Karo Bio. “Our aim is to achieve a significant breakthrough in the treatment of MS.”

This investment by the National MS Society is a continuation of a strategic research focus on gender differences in MS. That effort helped drive basic research into the role of sex hormones, and estrogen in particular. Karo Bio’s development of ERbeta agonists reflects the potential of this approach, and fits the Society’s comprehensive strategy to stop the progression of disability in MS and to restore function.

About Karo Bio
Karo Bio is a pharmaceutical company focused on the research and development of innovative drugs for large medical needs. The world-leading knowledge of nuclear receptors as target proteins for the development of pharmaceuticals and the related mechanisms of action, are utilized as a foundation for developing novel, more effective and safer pharmaceuticals. The company runs drug development projects mainly within the therapeutic areas neuropsychiatry, inflammation, autoimmune diseases and cancer. The company has a number of strategic agreements and collaborations with international pharmaceutical companies. Karo Bio is based in Huddinge, Sweden, has 42 employees and is listed on NASDAQ OMX Stockholm.

About Multiple Sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis, an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system, interrupts the flow of information within the brain, and between the brain and body.

About the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and Fast Forward, LLC
The Society mobilizes people and resources to drive research for a cure and to address the challenges of everyone affected by MS. To fulfill this mission, the Society funds cutting-edge research, drives change through advocacy, facilitates professional education, collaborates with MS organizations around the world, and provides programs and services designed to help people with MS and their families move their lives forward. In 2012 alone, through its home office and 50-state network of chapters, the Society devoted $122.1 million to programs and services that assisted more than one million people. To move us closer to a world free of MS, the Society also invested $43.3 million to support more than 350 new and ongoing research projects around the world. The Society is dedicated to achieving a world free of MS. Join the movement at www.nationalMSsociety.org.

Fast Forward, LLC was established by the National Multiple Sclerosis Society as part of a comprehensive approach to MS research and treatment, focusing on accelerating commercial development of promising research discoveries. Through Fast Forward, the Society connects university-based MS research with private-sector drug development and funds small biotechnology/pharmaceutical companies to develop innovative new MS therapies and repurpose FDA-approved drugs as new treatments for MS. For more information, please visit http://www.nationalmssociety.org/fast-forward//index.aspx

Karo Bio publishes this information in accordance with the Swedish Securities Markets Act and/or the Swedish Financial Instruments Trading Act. The information was published on 12 September 2013, at 09.30 am CET.

This press release is also available online at www.karobio.com and www.newsroom.cision.com