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EXHIBIT 99.1
Eupraxia Pharmaceuticals Strengthens Executive Leadership Team to Support Next Phase of Growth
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, July 13, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Eupraxia Pharmaceuticals Inc. (“Eupraxia” or the “Company”) (TSX: EPRX) (NASDAQ: EPRX), a clinical-stage biotechnology company leveraging its proprietary Diffusphere™ technology designed to optimize local, controlled drug delivery for applications with significant unmet need, announced updates to its executive leadership and operating structure as the Company continues to prepare for its next stage of clinical and commercial development.
Dr. Jeff Millard has joined Eupraxia as Executive Vice President, Technical Operations, effective July 13, 2026. Dr. Millard brings nearly 25 years of leadership experience in technical operations, CMC and regulatory strategy, having held senior leadership positions at Ensysce Biosciences, Microbion Corporation and Cascadian Therapeutics, where he advanced product candidates from discovery through commercialization. Dr. Millard will be leading these critical functions for Eupraxia where his deep experience in the transition from development to commercialization and his history of operational excellence will be foundational to the success of EP104GI.
As part of these changes, Dr. Alex Therien, who joined Eupraxia in November 2025, will take the helm of Research & Development in his role as Executive Vice President, Research & Development. Dr. Therien brings more than 20 years of biopharmaceutical leadership experience, having held senior research and development leadership positions at Generate Biomedicines, Eikon Therapeutics and Merck, and is well suited to drive portfolio expansion at Eupraxia.
“Eupraxia is looking to its Q4 2026 RESOLVE trial interim release in Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EOE) as a key catalyst for the growth of the company and its GI portfolio expansion. As we prepare for this on the back of positive data in the Phase 2a RESOLVE trial, it has been critical to ensure the Company is ready to tackle the Phase 3 development, regulatory, manufacturing and commercialization preparations. To this end, the recently announced addition of deeply experienced Directors and these executive leaders announced today signal the shift from an early-stage company to a late-stage one with experienced leaders to shepherd this pivotal growth stage.” said Dr James Helliwell, CEO of Eupraxia.
As Eupraxia evolves into a cross-border two-hub organization, Eupraxia has completed the transition of its operations from Victoria to Vancouver and Seattle, reflecting the Company’s focus on supporting its growing clinical operations. Key clinical, manufacturing and commercial executive leadership positions, including the CEO, will be based in the Seattle offices.
As part of this transition, Amanda Malone, based in Victoria, has stepped down from her role as Chief Scientific and Operating Officer, effective July 10, 2026. Eupraxia is grateful for her years of expertise in research and early-stage development.
About Eupraxia Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Eupraxia is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the development of locally delivered, extended-release products that have the potential to address therapeutic areas with high unmet medical need. Diffusphere™, a proprietary, polymer-based micro-sphere technology, is designed to facilitate targeted drug delivery of both existing and novel drugs. The technology is designed to support extended duration of effect and delivery of drugs in a hyper-localized fashion, targeting only the tissues that physicians are wanting to treat. We believe the potential for fewer adverse events may be achieved through the precision targeting and the stable and flat delivery of the active ingredient when using the Diffusphere™ technology, versus the peaks and troughs seen with more traditional drug delivery methods. The precision of Eupraxia's Diffusphere™ technology platform has the potential to augment and transform existing FDA-approved drugs to improve their safety, tolerability, efficacy and duration of effect. The potential uses in therapeutic areas may go beyond pain and inflammatory gastrointestinal disease, where Eupraxia currently is developing advanced treatments, to also be applicable in oncology, infectious disease and other critical disease areas.
Eupraxia's EP-104GI is currently in a Phase 1b/2 trial, the RESOLVE trial, for the treatment of EoE. EP-104GI is administered as an injection into the esophageal wall, providing local delivery of drug. This is a unique treatment approach for EoE. Eupraxia also completed a Phase 2b clinical trial (SPRINGBOARD) of EP-104IAR for the treatment of pain due to knee osteoarthritis. The trial met its primary endpoint and three of the four secondary endpoints. In addition, Eupraxia is developing a pipeline of later and earlier-stage long-acting formulations. Potential pipeline indications include candidates for other inflammatory joint indications and oncology, each designed to improve on the activity and tolerability of currently approved drugs. For further details about Eupraxia, please visit the Company's website at: www.eupraxiapharma.com.
Notice Regarding Forward-looking Statements and Information
This news release includes forward-looking statements and forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Often, but not always, forward-looking information can be identified by the use of words such as "plans", "is expected", "expects", “suggests”, "scheduled", "intends", "contemplates", "anticipates", "believes", "proposes", "potential" or variations (including negative and grammatical variations) of such words and phrases, or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. Forward looking statements in this news release include statements regarding the Company's executive leadership and organizational structure, the Company's product candidates, including their expected benefits with respect to safety, tolerability, efficacy and duration; the results gathered from studies and trials of Eupraxia's product candidates; the potential for the Company's technology to impact the drug delivery process; potential market opportunity for the Company’s product candidates, and potential pipeline indications. Such statements and information are based on the current expectations of Eupraxia's management, and are based on assumptions, including but not limited to: future research and development plans for the Company proceeding substantially as currently envisioned; industry growth trends, including with respect to projected and actual industry sales; the Company's ability to obtain positive results from the Company's research and development activities, including clinical trials; and the Company's ability to protect patents and proprietary rights. Although Eupraxia's management believes that the assumptions underlying these statements and information are reasonable, they may prove to be incorrect. The forward-looking events and circumstances discussed in this news release may not occur by certain dates or at all and could differ materially as a result of known and unknown risk factors and uncertainties affecting Eupraxia, including, but not limited to: risks and uncertainties related to the Company's limited operating history; the Company's novel technology with uncertain market acceptance; if the Company breaches any of the agreements under which it licenses rights to its product candidates or technology from third parties, the possibility the Company could lose license rights that are important to its business; the Company's current license agreement may not provide an adequate remedy for its breach by the licensor; the possibility that the Company's technology may not be successful for its intended use; the fact that the Company's future technology will require regulatory approval, which is costly and the Company may not be able to obtain it; the possibility that the Company may fail to obtain regulatory approvals or only obtain approvals for limited uses or indications; the possibility that the Company's clinical trials may fail to demonstrate adequately the safety and efficacy of its product candidates at any stage of clinical development; the possibility that the Company may be required to suspend or discontinue clinical trials due to side effects or other safety risks; the fact that the Company completely relies on third parties to provide supplies and inputs required for its product candidates and services; the potential impact of tariffs on the cost of the Company’s active pharmaceutical ingredients and clinical supplies of EP-104IAR and EP-104GI; the fact that the Company relies on external contract research organizations to provide clinical and non-clinical research services; the possibility the Company may not be able to successfully execute its business strategy; the fact that the Company will require additional financing, which may not be available; the fact that any therapeutics the Company develops will be subject to extensive, lengthy and uncertain regulatory requirements, which could adversely affect the Company's ability to obtain regulatory approval in a timely manner, or at all; the impact of health pandemics or epidemics on the Company's operations; the Company's restatement of its consolidated financial statements, which may lead to additional risks and uncertainties, including loss of investor confidence and negative impacts on the Company's common share price; and other risks and uncertainties described in more detail in Eupraxia's public filings on SEDAR+ (sedarplus.ca) and EDGAR (sec.gov). Although Eupraxia has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements and information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results to differ from those anticipated, estimated or intended. No forward-looking statement or information can be guaranteed. Except as required by applicable securities laws, forward-looking statements and information speak only as of the date on which they are made and Eupraxia undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement or information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
For investor and media inquiries, please contact:
James Meikle, Eupraxia Pharmaceuticals Inc.
236.330.7084
jmeikle@eupraxiapharma.com
or
Kevin Gardner, on behalf of:
Eupraxia Pharmaceuticals Inc.
617.283.2856
kgardner@lifesciadvisors.com
SOURCE Eupraxia Pharmaceuticals Inc.
