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Cites Large, Unserved Needs of Sickle Cell Disease Patients 

TORRANCE, Calif., Dec. 20, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Emmaus Life Sciences, Inc. (OTCQX: EMMA), announced today that Dr. Yutaka Niihara, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the company, was hosted in Mumbai, India on December 16, 2022 by Bhagat Singh Koshyari, the Governor of the State of Maharashtra, the industrial, financial and commercial center of India. In remarks on social media, https://t.co/vTrKwVT4if, the Governor cited the more than 20 million people suffering from sickle cell disease (SCD) in his country and spoke of the discovery of Endari® that can help patients with SCD.

Endari® is approved in the U.S. and several Gulf Cooperation Council countries to reduce the acute complications of sickle cell disease in adult and pediatric patients five years of age and older. Endari® is also available on an early-access basis in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and several European Union countries but is not yet available in India.

Dr. Yutaka Niihara, M.D., M.P.H., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Emmaus, commented "I am honored to have been invited by Governor Koshyari to discuss the needs of India's large population of individuals suffering from SCD and grateful to discuss with him how access to Endari may benefit those individuals."

Emmaus Life Sciences, Inc. is a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company engaged in the discovery, development, marketing and sale of innovative treatments and therapies, including those in the rare and orphan disease categories. For more information, please visit www.emmausmedical.com.

Indication - Endari^® is indicated to reduce the acute complications of sickle cell disease in adult and pediatric patients five years of age and older.

The most common adverse reactions (incidence >10 percent) in clinical studies were constipation, nausea, headache, abdominal pain, cough, pain in extremities, back pain, and chest pain.

Adverse reactions leading to treatment discontinuation included one case each of hypersplenism, abdominal pain, dyspepsia, burning sensation, and hot flash.

The safety and efficacy of Endari^® in pediatric patients with sickle cell disease younger than five years of age has not been established.

For more information, please see full Prescribing Information of Endari^® at: www.ENDARIrx.com/PI.

There are approximately 100,000 people living with sickle cell disease (SCD) in the United States and millions more globally. The sickle gene is found in every ethnic group, not just among those of African descent; and in the United States an estimated 1-in-365 African Americans and 1-in-16,300 Hispanic Americans are born with SCD.¹ The genetic mutation responsible for SCD causes an individual's red blood cells to distort into a "C" or a sickle shape, reducing their ability to transport oxygen throughout the body. These sickled red blood cells break down rapidly, become very sticky, and develop a propensity to clump together, which causes them to become stuck and cause damage within blood vessels. The result is reduced blood flow to distal organs, which leads to physical symptoms of incapacitating pain, tissue and organ damage, and early death.²

¹Source: Data & Statistics on Sickle Cell Disease – National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, December 2020.

²Source: Committee on Addressing Sickle Cell Disease – A Strategic Plan and Blueprint for Action -- National Academy of Sciences Press, 2020.

Company Contact:
Emmaus Life Sciences, Inc.
Willis Lee
Chief Operating Officer
(310) 214-0065, Ext. 1130
[email protected]

SOURCE Emmaus Life Sciences, Inc.