Verona Pharma plc

("Verona Pharma" or the "Company")

Exercise of Options

The Company announces that it has issued 166,667 new ordinary shares in the capital of the Company (the "New Shares") following an exercise of share options by an employee. Application has been made to the London Stock Exchange for the New Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM, with dealings expected to commence on 3 November 2016 ("Admission").

Following Admission, the Company will have a total of 2,566,053,160 Ordinary Shares in issue each carrying one voting right. The Company does not hold any Ordinary Shares in Treasury. This figure of 2,566,053,160 Ordinary Shares may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the share capital of the Company under the FCA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.

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About Verona Pharma plc

Verona Pharma plc is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing innovative therapeutics for the treatment of respiratory diseases with significant unmet medical needs, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cystic fibrosis (CF) and asthma. 

Verona Pharma's drug candidate, RPL554, is a first-in-class, inhaled, dual inhibitor of the enzymes phosphodiesterase 3 and 4, or PDE3 and PDE4, that acts as both a bronchodilator and an anti-inflammatory agent in a single molecule. The Company has successfully completed eight Phase 1 and 2a clinical trials with RPL554 to date, with 299 subjects enrolled. RPL554 has been observed to provide clinically meaningful and statistically significant improvements in lung function as both a single agent and as an add-on therapy with currently marketed bronchodilator drugs. In addition, RPL554 has been observed to shorten the time of onset of bronchodilation when administered as an add-on therapy with currently marketed bronchodilators, and has also shown anti-inflammatory effects. RPL554 has been well tolerated in each of its clinical trials. Verona Pharma also intends to pursue development of RPL554 to address multiple other respiratory diseases, including asthma.