Devonian Health Group Announces the Formation of a Scientific Advisory Board with Mandate to Assist in the Development of Cannabinoïds-Based Pharmaceutical Products.

QUEBEC–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Devonian Health Group Inc. (“Devonian” or the “Corporation”)
(TSXV: GSD), a clinical stage botanical pharmaceutical corporation
focused on developing a unique portfolio of botanical prescription drugs
and cosmeceutical products, announced today that it has formed a
Scientific Advisory Board comprised of experts in botany, chemistry,
immunology, infectious diseases, drug discovery and development. This
Scientific Advisory Board will assist Devonian’s Research and
Development team in the development of cannabinoïds-based pharmaceutical
drugs.

The appointees are Dr. Louis Flamand, PhD, MBA (Laval University), Dr.
Suha Jabaji, PhD (McGill University), Prof. Francois Malouin, PhD
(Université de Sherbrooke), and Dr. John Trant, PhD (University of
Windsor).

“We are honored to welcome these leading Canadian experts to our new
Scientific Advisory Board. The expertise they bring to our team will be
invaluable in guiding us through the development of cannabinoids-based
pharmaceutical drugs,” said Dr. André P. Boulet, PhD., President & CEO
of Devonian.

“We believe that cannabinoids-based products could be developed as
pharmaceutical drugs either under the normal drug development pathway,
as New Chemical Entities (NCE) or under the Botanical Drug Regulation.
Under the Botanical Drug Regulation, plant materials, algae, macroscopic
fungi, or combinations thereof can be developed as a prescription drug¹.
Such products benefit of the combined effects of the components called
the ‘‘entourage effects’’. The botanical drug’s special features require
consideration and adjustment during regulatory review process. The
US-Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a Guidance for
Industry-Botanical Drug Products¹ to take into consideration
these features and to facilitate development of new prescription
medicines from botanical sources. Devonian’s core strategy is to develop
drugs, including cannabinoïds, within the Botanical Drug Regulatory
pathway.,” added Dr Boulet.

The Corporation also announces the filing of an application in order to
obtain a Cannabis Research Licence from Health Canada.

Dr Louis Flamand, PhD, MBA

Louis Flamand, PhD, MBA, is a full professor and chair of the department
of microbiology-infectious-disease-immunology at the Faculty of
medicine, Université Laval and senior researcher in the division of
infectious and immune diseases at the CHU de Quebec research
center-Université Laval. Before joining Laval university, Dr Flamand
obtained his PhD in virology from the University of Montreal and
post-doctoral training that the National Institutes of Health and at the
Institute of Human Virology (Maryland, USA). He received his MBA in
pharmaceutical management from Université Laval. He is also member of
the HHV-6 Foundation scientific advisory board since 2006. Dr Flamand
has experience in pre-clinical development. Throughout his career, Dr
Flamand has received several competitive scholarship awards and
continuous funding support from several funding agencies for his work in
virology. Dr Flamand is the author of more than 90 peer-reviewed
publications and is lead Editor of the book “Human Herpesviruses HHV-6A,
HHV-6B & HHV-7: Diagnosis and Clinical Management” 3rd edition.

Dr Suha Jabaji, Ph.D.

Dr Suha Jabaji, PhD. is a molecular plant pathologist in training. She
obtained her PhD from the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. At
the rank of full Professor in Plant Science, McGill University, her
scientific contributions are recognized at the national and
international levels. She has published 90 plus-refereed scientific
reports and delivered more than 200 scientific presentations at
scientific conferences. The creativity, relevance, and significance of
her research results impacting sustainable agriculture is recognized by
invitations to speak in symposia and conference presentations at
scientific meetings, and serving on national and international editorial
boards and grant panels. Her research expertise focuses on functional
genomics and metabolomics of plant fungal pathogens and beneficial
microbes that boost the plant’s immune system against biotic and abiotic
stress has attracted International researchers to spend time in her lab
for training. Her research program is funded by provincial, federal
grants as well as industrial collaborative grants and contracts. She has
mentored more than 100 graduate and postgraduate students in the field
of Plant-microbe interactions. Among her current research themes is the
development of effective antimicrobials for the hemp and Cannabis
industries, and understanding their mode of action in order to increase
their efficiencies. Between 2005-2015, she was appointed as the
Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Education of the Faculty of
Agricultural and Environmental Sciences (FAES), McGill where she oversaw
the research activities of more than 90 staff at FAES. She currently
serves as Past-President of the International Rhizoctonia Subject Matter
Committee whose mandate is to coordinate international effort towards
effective communication among scientists working on the economic
soilborne fungal pathogen Rhizoctonia and promote exchange of resources
and ideas among scientists.

Prof François Malouin, PhD

François Malouin is professor (microbiology) at the Department of
biology at the Faculty of sciences of Universite de Sherbrooke since
2000. He is a microbiologist that has more than 30 years of academic and
industrial experience in drug discovery for use in humans and
food-producing animals. Prof Malouin obtained a doctoral degree (Ph.D.)
in Medical Sciences (Medical Microbiology) at the University of Calgary
(1988) and did postdoctoral training in the anti-infective research
group at Lilly Research Laboratories (Eli Lilly & Co., Indianapolis,
USA) from 1988 to 1990. Prof Malouin was also Assistant professor of
microbiology at the Faculty of medicine of Université Laval in Quebec
City where he had a Fellowship from the Medical Research Council of
Canada (1990-1994). He was then recruited by biotechnology companies,
first Microcide Pharmaceuticals, Inc., then a sister company, Iconix
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Silicon Valley, California, USA) from 1994 to
2000, where he was Associate Director of technology development for the
discovery of new therapeutic targets and antibiotics. He was also a
co-founder of Ulysses Pharmaceuticals (Sherbrooke, QC). Currently at U.
de Sherbrooke, his research projects aim at exploiting virulence genes
for the development of new antibiotics, vaccines and non-antibiotic
alternatives for applications in human and animal health. He is
co-author of >100 scientific publications and co-inventor of more than
20 patents (delivered or pending). ). Prof. Malouin was a member and
president of the institutional patent committee at Université de
Sherbrooke from 2009 to 2017.

“Medicinal plants have been used for centuries for treating various
types of illnesses including treatment of infectious diseases. A
richness of new chemical entities remains unexploited to this day and
cannabinoid-rich products represent such an untapped source of bioactive
phytomolecules to address the current crisis of antibiotic resistance”.
Said Prof Malouin.

Dr John Trant, PhD

Dr. John Trant received his PhD from the University of Ottawa in 2012 in
making antifreeze glycopeptides under the supervision of Dr. Robert Ben.
After postdoctoral work with Dr. Tomas Hudlicky (natural product
synthesis, Brock) and Dr. Elizabeth Gillies (polymer and nanoscience,
Western) he began his own group at the University of Windsor in 2016.
The Trant group is focused on bringing the tools of synthetic chemistry
to bare on unsolved problems in biomedicine and materials science. The
group has active research in molecular and microbiology, natural product
and peptide synthesis, and computational chemistry and biochemistry. The
group conducts interdisciplinary research with collaborators from around
Canada and the World in drug development, analytical chemistry,
computational chemistry as well as leading research programs in
undergraduate research pedagogy, and laboratory safety. The group has
attracted over $2 million in research and infrastructure funds in the
first three years of the lab, and currently comprises seven
post-doctoral fellows, five graduate students and thirty-one
undergraduate researchers.

‘We are exceptionally excited to move forward in this collaboration with
Devonian Health Group to advance the health of Canadians’. Said Dr Trant.

About Devonian

Devonian Health Group Inc. is a late stage botanical pharmaceutical
corporation with novel therapeutic approaches to targeting unmet medical
needs. Devonian’s core strategy is to develop prescription botanical
drugs from plant materials and algae for the treatment of
inflammatory-autoimmune diseases including but not limited to ulcerative
colitis and atopic dermatitis. Based on a foundation of over 15 years of
research, Devonian’s focus is further supported by a US-FDA set of
regulatory guidelines favouring a more efficient drug development
pathway for prescription botanical drug products over those of
traditional prescription medicines. Devonian is also involved in the
development of high-value cosmeceutical products leveraging the same
proprietary approach employed with their pharmaceutical offerings.
Devonian Health Group Inc. was incorporated in 2013 and is headquartered
in Québec, Canada where it owns a state-of-the art extraction facility
with full traceability ‘from the seed to the pill’. Acquired in 2018,
Altius Healthcare Inc., its commercialization partner, brings
opportunities for further diversification and growth potential. Devonian
is traded publicly on the TSXV Exchange (TSXv:GSD).

For more information, visit www.groupedevonian.com.

References

1. Botanical Drug Development, Guidance for Industry. U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services, Food and Drug Administration, Center for Drug
Evaluation and Research (CDER), December 2016.

Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements about Devonian’s
objectives, strategies and businesses that involve risks and
uncertainties. These statements are “forward-looking” because they are
based on our current expectations about the markets we operate in and on
various estimates and assumptions. Actual events or results may differ
materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements if
known or unknown risks affect our business, or if our estimates or
assumptions turn out to be inaccurate. Such risks and assumptions
include, but are not limited to, Devonian’s ability to develop,
manufacture, and successfully commercialize value-added pharmaceutical
and dermo-cosmeceutical products, the availability of funds and
resources to pursue R&D projects, the successful and timely completion
of clinical studies, the ability of Devonian to take advantage of
business opportunities in the pharmaceutical and dermo-cosmeceutical
industries, uncertainties related to the regulatory process and general
changes in economic conditions. You will find a more detailed assessment
of the risks that could cause actual events or results to materially
differ from our current expectations in Devonian’s prospectus dated
April 21^st, 2017 under the heading “Risk Factors” related to
Devonian’s business. As a result, we cannot guarantee that any
forward-looking statement will materialize. We assume no obligation to
update any forward-looking statement even if new information becomes
available, as a result of future events or for any other reason, unless
required by applicable securities laws and regulations.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as
that term is defined in policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts
responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Contacts

Dr André P. Boulet, PhD
President and Chief Executive Officer
Devonian
Health Group inc.
Telephone: (514) 248-7509
Email: [email protected]m