Zevra Therapeutics to be Added to Russell 2000® and Russell 3000® Indexes Effective June 26, 2023

CELEBRATION, Fla., June 20, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Zevra Therapeutics, Inc. (NasdaqGS: ZVRA) (Zevra, or the Company, formerly KemPharm, Inc.), a rare disease therapeutics company, announced its expected addition to the broad-market Russell 3000^® Index and small-cap Russell 2000^® Index in accordance with the 2023 Russell indexes annual reconstitution. Zevra anticipates that its inclusion in the Russell indexes will be effective after the U.S. market opens on Monday, June 26, 2023.

“In the past year, Zevra has achieved a number of significant milestones including: the acquisition of arimoclomol, a Phase 3 asset in development for treatment of Niemann-Pick disease type C; the strategic transition to a company focused on rare disease; and the advancement of KP1077 for the treatment of idiopathic hypersomnia and narcolepsy,” said Christal Mickle, President, interim Chief Executive Officer and Chief Development Officer of Zevra. “Our inclusion in these Russell 2000 and Russell 3000 indexes provides important third-party validation of our approach to delivering long-term shareholder value, with these indexes used as a key benchmark for a wide variety of investors and asset managers.”

Every year FTSE Russell conducts updates to its various indexes based on total market capitalization and style attributes. Membership in the U.S. all-cap Russell 3000 Index remains in place for one year and means automatic inclusion in the appropriate growth and value style indexes, which is the small-cap Russell 2000 Index for Zevra. The 2023 index showed noteworthy growth in the health care industry, with a majority of the companies moving from small-cap to large-cap coming from the health care space.

About FTSE Russell:

FTSE Russell is a global index leader that provides innovative benchmarking, analytics and data solutions for investors worldwide. FTSE Russell calculates thousands of indexes that measure and benchmark markets and asset classes in more than 70 countries, covering 98% of the investable market globally.

FTSE Russell index expertise and products are used extensively by institutional and retail investors globally. Approximately $20.1 trillion is currently benchmarked to FTSE Russell indexes. For over 30 years, leading asset owners, asset managers, ETF providers and investment banks have chosen FTSE Russell indexes to benchmark their investment performance and create ETFs, structured products and index-based derivatives.

A core set of universal principles guides FTSE Russell index design and management: a transparent rules-based methodology is informed by independent committees of leading market participants. FTSE Russell is focused on applying the highest industry standards in index design and governance and embraces the IOSCO Principles. FTSE Russell is also focused on index innovation and customer partnerships as it seeks to enhance the breadth, depth and reach of its offering.

FTSE Russell is wholly owned by London Stock Exchange Group.

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About Zevra:

Zevra Therapeutics is a rare disease company melding science, data, and patient need to create transformational therapies for diseases with limited or no treatment options. With unique, data-driven clinical, regulatory, and commercialization strategies, the Company is overcoming complex drug development challenges to bring much-needed therapies to patients.

Arimoclomol, Zevra’s orally-delivered, first-in-class investigational product candidate for the treatment of Niemann-Pick disease type C (NPC), has been granted orphan drug designation, Fast Track designation, Breakthrough Therapy designation and rare pediatric disease designation for NPC by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and orphan medicinal product designation for the treatment of NPC by the European Medicines Agency (EMA). The arimoclomol New Drug Application (NDA) is currently being prepared for a resubmission to the FDA.

KP1077 is Zevra’s lead clinical candidate being developed to treat idiopathic hypersomnia (IH) and narcolepsy. KP1077 is comprised solely of serdexmethylphenidate (SDX), Zevra’s proprietary prodrug of d-methylphenidate (“d-MPH”). The FDA has granted KP1077 orphan drug designation for the treatment of IH, and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has classified SDX as a Schedule IV controlled substance based on evidence suggesting SDX has a lower potential for abuse when compared to d-MPH, a Schedule II controlled substance.

Early access programs are made available by Zevra Therapeutics, Inc. and its affiliates and are subject to the Company's Early Access Program (EAP) policy as published on its website at . Participation in these programs is subject to the laws and regulations of each jurisdiction under which each respective program is operated. Eligibility for participation in any such program is at the treating physician's discretion.

Caution Concerning Forward-Looking Statements:

This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include all statements that do not relate solely to historical or current facts, and which can be identified by the use of words such as "may," "will," "expect," "project," "estimate," "anticipate," "plan," "believe," "potential," "should," "continue," "could," "intend," "target," "predict," or the negative versions of those words or other comparable words or expressions, although not all forward-looking statements contain these identifying words or expressions. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future actions or performance. These forward-looking statements include without limitation statements regarding our strategic and product development objectives, and the meaning and potential impact of our anticipated inclusion in the Russell 2000 and 3000 indexes. Forward-looking statements are based on information currently available to Zevra and its current plans or expectations. They are subject to several known and unknown uncertainties, risks, and other important factors that may cause our actual results, performance, or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. These and other important factors are described in detail in the "Risk Factors" section of Zevra’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, as updated in Zevra’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2023, and Zevra’s other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. While we may elect to update such forward-looking statements at some point in the future, except as required by law, we disclaim any obligation to do so, even if subsequent events cause our views to change. Although we believe the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot assure that such expectations will prove correct. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing our views as of any date after the date of this press release.

Contacts: 

Nichol Ochsner 

+1 (732) 754-2545 

Jennifer Arcure

+1 (917) 603-0681