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Collaboration combines Vistagen’s neuroscience expertise and datasets with GATC Health’s predictive modeling capabilities to provide additional insights for protocol development and resource allocation

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Oct. 20, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Vistagen (Nasdaq: VTGN) a late clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company pioneering neuroscience with nose-to-brain neurocircuitry, today announced its collaboration with GATC Health, a tech-bio company applying artificial intelligence and multiomics to drug discovery and development. The collaboration brings GATC Health’s proprietary Operon^® platform and Derisq^® report to Vistagen’s lead clinical-stage programs.

Through the collaboration, GATC Health uses its Operon^® platform and Derisq^® predictive intelligence capabilities to provide strategic insights for Vistagen’s potential next Phase 3 study of fasedienol for treatment of social anxiety disorder with the Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale (LSAS) as the primary efficacy endpoint, as well as potential Phase 2 studies of itruvone for major depressive disorder and refisolone for menopausal hot flashes. Vistagen and GATC Health are now leveraging predictive modeling to complement traditional drug development approaches, providing deeper insights on complex scientific and development questions that impact protocol development, pipeline prioritization, and resource allocation.

“GATC Health’s predictive, purpose-built AI technology and methods are powerful and designed to model complex biological interactions that impact drug development, including potential efficacy and safety,” said Shawn Singh, President and Chief Executive Officer of Vistagen. “We are incorporating key predictive insights from our collaboration with GATC Health into protocol development for our fasedienol program in social anxiety disorder, complementing our experience and existing datasets.”

“The hardest thing to get in drug development is a true outside read on your own assumptions,” said Jayson Uffens, Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer of GATC Health. “Vistagen knows these programs better than anyone. What we add is that independent perspective. Operon^® looks at each candidate end-to-end: its chemistry, the biology it acts on, and how it’s likely to perform in people. Derisq^® gives the team a second signal to test their thinking against as they plan the next studies. Their clinical judgment plus our predictive work is how these decisions should be made.”

About Vistagen
Vistagen (Nasdaq: VTGN) is a late clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company leveraging a deep understanding of nose-to-brain neurocircuitry to develop and commercialize a new class of rapid-onset neurocircuitry-focused intranasal product candidates called pherines. Vistagen’s pherine product candidates are designed to achieve therapeutic benefits without requiring absorption into the blood or uptake into the brain, giving them the potential to be a safer alternative to other pharmacological options, if successfully developed and approved. Vistagen’s most advanced intranasal pherine product candidates are fasedienol for the acute treatment of social anxiety disorder, itruvone for treatment of major depressive disorder, and refisolone for treatment of vasomotor symptoms (hot flashes) due to menopause. Connect at www.Vistagen.com

About GATC Health
GATC Health is a tech-bio company supporting critical decision-making across the life sciences ecosystem. Its proprietary AI platform, Operon^®, unites advanced AI, multiomics, and thousands of models to simulate human biology, prospectively quantifying risk and generating solutions from discovery through development. The company’s risk prediction product, the Derisq^® report, simulates clinical trial outcomes in silico to identify safety, efficacy and off-target outcomes prior to the commitment of development capital. Operon^® is a purpose-built platform for drug discovery, pipeline prioritization, asset de-risking and optimization, clinical trial design, and reducing financial risk and costly late-stage failures.

Forward-looking Statements
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws, including, without limitation, whether Vistagen’s collaboration with GATC will provide any benefit to the development of product candidates in Vistagen’s pipeline or whether future trials of such product candidates will occur. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks that are difficult to predict and include all matters that are not historical facts. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the use of words such as “may,” “could,” “expect,” “project,” “outlook,” “strategy,” “intend,” “plan,” “seek,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “predict,” “potential,” “strive,” “goal,” “continue,” “likely,” “will,” “would” and variations of these terms and similar expressions, or the negative of these terms or similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon estimates and assumptions that, while considered reasonable by Vistagen and its management, are inherently uncertain. As with all pharmaceutical products, there are substantial risks and uncertainties in the process of development and commercialization, and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected or implied in these forward-looking statements. There can be no guarantee that any of Vistagen’s product candidates, including fasedienol, will successfully complete ongoing or future clinical trials within estimated timelines or at all, receive regulatory approval or be commercially successful. These risks and others are more fully discussed in the section entitled “Risk Factors” in Vistagen’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the period ended March 31, 2026, and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2026, as well as discussions of potential risks, uncertainties, and other important factors in our other filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Vistagen’s SEC filings are available on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which apply only as of the date of this press release and should not be relied upon as representing Vistagen’s views as of any subsequent date. Vistagen explicitly disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements other than as may be required by law. If Vistagen does update one or more forward-looking statements, no inference should be made that Vistagen will make additional updates with respect to those or other forward-looking statements.

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