LIVONIA, Mich., Oct. 17, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Gemphire Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ:GEMP), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing therapies for the treatment of dyslipidemia, is once again a proud sponsor of the FH Global Summit being held in Dallas, TX this year and the Advocates for Awareness program, an educational campaign by the FH Foundation that focuses on community outreach and strives to raise awareness of this vastly under diagnosed and untreated disease. The FH Foundation is a patient-centered non-profit organization dedicated to research, advocacy, and education of all forms of familial hypercholesterolemia including HoFH and HeFH.

“We are proud to be a sponsor of key initiatives at the FH Foundation,” said Mina Sooch, President and CEO of Gemphire Therapeutics. “Many patients with familial hypercholesterolemia have high levels of LDL-C despite the use of statins and other approved medications and are at high risk for cardiovascular disease.  Our product candidate, gemcabene, is being developed as a convenient, once daily, oral medication, and has the potential to be a complementary add-on therapy in the FH patient population as well as in other high risk populations. Gemcabene’s clinical profile across 895 patients studied to date has shown that it can provide additional lowering of LDL-C across all doses of statins.”

The 2016 FH Global Summit, taking place October 17-18 in Dallas, TX, will bring together distinguished leaders in diverse fields including cardiology, lipidology, biochemistry, health economics, and bioinformatics, all working toward a common goal – to translate FH research into every day clinical practice that prevents premature cardiovascular disease.

The Advocates for Awareness program helps bring together patients, caregivers and healthcare professionals to help support patients with FH by posting a blog and newsletter about clinical trials with information on why patients should consider the opportunity to participate in a trial. The program is promoted through FH Foundation’s social media channels including Twitter and Facebook, and is featured on the FH website.

“The FH Foundation works directly with patients, clinicians, researchers, and other stakeholders to increase FH diagnosis rates and ensure patient access to needed therapies,” stated Katherine Wilemon, Founder and CEO, the FH Foundation. “We are grateful that Gemphire supports our mission and continues to put patients first in order to save lives.”

Gemphire is currently enrolling patients in COBALT-1, a Phase 2b open label trial in HoFH, and anticipates announcing top line results in June 2017. We have also initiated a new Phase 2b trial, ROYAL-1 in ASCVD/HeFH patients. More information on both trials NCT02722408 and NCT02634151 can be found at www.clinicaltrials.gov.

About The FH Foundation
The FH Foundation is a patient-centered nonprofit organization dedicated to education, advocacy, and research of Familial Hypercholesterolemia (FH). The mission of The FH Foundation is to raise awareness and save lives by increasing the rate of early diagnosis and encouraging proactive treatment. If left untreated, FH leads to aggressive and premature heart disease in women, men and children of all racial and ethnic backgrounds. Please visit www.thefhfoundation.org for more information.

About Gemphire
Gemphire is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing therapies for the treatment of dyslipidemia, a serious medical condition that increases the risk of life threatening cardiovascular disease, and NAFLD/NASH (nonalcoholic fatty liver disease). Please visit www.gemphire.com for more information.

Forward Looking Statements
Any statements in this press release about Gemphire’s future expectations, plans and prospects, including statements about Gemphire’s financial prospects, future operations and sufficiency of funds for future operations, clinical development of Gemphire’s product candidate, expectations regarding future clinical trials and future expectations and plans and prospects for Gemphire and other statements containing the words “believes,” “anticipates,” “estimates,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “predicts,” “projects,” “targets,” “may,” “potential,” “will,” “would,” “could,” “should,” “continue,” and similar expressions, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors, including: the success and timing of Gemphire’s regulatory submissions and pre-clinical and clinical trials; regulatory developments; changes to Gemphire’s clinical trial designs and regulatory pathways; changes in Gemphire’s capital resource requirements; Gemphire’s ability to obtain additional financing; Gemphire’s ability to successfully market and distribute its product candidate, if approved; Gemphire’s ability to obtain and maintain its intellectual property protection; and other factors discussed in the “Risk Factors” section of Gemphire’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarterly period ended June 30, 2016,  and in other filings Gemphire makes with the SEC from time to time. In addition, the forward-looking statements included in this press release represent Gemphire’s views as of the date hereof. Gemphire anticipates that subsequent events and developments will cause Gemphire’s views to change. However, while Gemphire may elect to update these forward-looking statements at some point in the future, Gemphire specifically disclaims any obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing Gemphire’s views as of any date subsequent to the date hereof.

CONTACT: CONTACT:
Andrew McDonald, Ph.D.
LifeSci Advisors, LLC
(646) 597-6987

Jeff Mathiesen, CFO
Gemphire Therapeutics
(734)-245-1700