SOUTHPORT, CT--(Marketwired - Apr 14, 2016) - Thetis Pharmaceuticals LLC ("Thetis"), a privately-held biopharmaceutical company, today announced that Frank C. Sciavolino, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer, will present an overview of TP-252, the Company's investigational drug candidate for the treatment of familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) at the 2016 World Orphan Drug Congress USA. The presentation will take place at the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C. at 3 pm (EDT) on April 21, 2016.

FAP is a rare genetic cancer predisposition syndrome characterized by the formation of numerous colorectal polyps in late childhood or adolescence. Unless the polyps are removed by surgical procedures, all FAP patients inevitably develop colorectal cancer, usually in middle age. There are no drugs approved by FDA for the treatment of FAP, and disease management currently involves screening, endoscopic surveillance and prophylactic surgery. Colectomy, which is usually performed between the ages of 16 and 20 years, significantly reduces the risk of colorectal cancer, but also imposes a heavy psycho-social burden on this young population.

TP-252, which has orphan drug designation from FDA, is targeted as adjunct therapy to the current standard of care to reduce polyp burden and safely delay the need for colectomy to enable patients to transition into adulthood when they are better situated to handle the emotional and physical trauma of surgery. The favorable safety profile and unique mechanism-of-action of TP-252, supported by proof-of-concept data on its active agent in both animal models and FAP patients, validate TP-252 as an innovative and promising drug for this indication.

About Thetis Pharmaceuticals

Thetis is a privately held biopharmaceutical company applying its HEALER™ technology to discover and develop innovative drugs. Thetis chemically transforms bioactive fatty acids into solid, stable, small molecule pharmaceuticals that target unmet medical needs in the gastro-intestinal and cardio-metabolic disease areas. The early-stage Thetis pipeline, which has composition-of-matter patent protection and potential first-in-class therapeutic credentials, includes TP-252 for treatment of familial adenomatous polyposis, TP-4311 for treatment of post-operative ileus, TP-452 as adjunct therapy to statins for management of LDL-cholesterol, and TP-113 for treatment of type 2 diabetes. For more information, please visit our website at http://www.thetispharma.com.