Conatus Pharmaceuticals to Present at the Montgomery Healthcare Conference

SAN DIEGO, Oct. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Conatus Pharmaceuticals Inc., a privately
held, clinical stage company developing a treatment for liver disease
associated with Hepatitis C Virus (HCV), announced today that Steven J. Mento,
Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer, will present at the Montgomery
Healthcare Conference being held in Menlo Park, CA, on October 6, 2009.
Conatus is one of only 30 companies selected to present to this
invitation-only audience of senior-level private equity and venture capital
investors and corporate industry executives.

Dr. Mento will provide a corporate overview and highlight Conatus' scientific
rationale, progress in clinical development and business development strategy
of its lead compound, CTS-1027.

Conatus recently initiated a second Phase 2 clinical trial with its novel drug
candidate CTS-1027 for the treatment of liver disease associated with HCV
infection. The trial is enrolling patients who have not undergone therapy with
approved standard of care treatments. Results from an earlier Phase 2
clinical trial in HCV patients who failed standard of care treatment are
expected to be reported later this year.

CTS-1027 is an oral, small molecule compound that inhibits the activity of key
members of a class of protease enzymes, the matrix metalloproteinases or MMPs.
CTS-1027 has shown to be effective in multiple preclinical models of
inflammatory liver disease and HCV infection.

"Preclinical studies suggest that treatment with CTS-1027 has the potential to
impact the second phase of HCV inhibitory kinetics in patients. This phase is
associated with the gradual reduction and replacement of HCV-infected cells by
uninfected liver cells," said Steven J. Mento, President and CEO of Conatus.
"We believe that CTS-1027 represents a novel approach to treating HCV disease
and look forward to developing this drug candidate to fill an important
medical need in HCV-infected patients."

Conatus Pharmaceuticals Inc. is a privately-held specialty pharmaceutical
company engaged in the development of innovative therapeutics to treat liver
disease. Chronic liver disease affects millions of people worldwide and can be
caused by many different conditions or "insults" to the liver including
Hepatitis C and other viral infections, obesity, chronic alcohol abuse or
autoimmune diseases. Conatus was founded by the executive management team of
Idun Pharmaceuticals in July 2005 following the successful sale of Idun to
Pfizer. For additional information, please visit www.conatuspharma.com.

SOURCE Conatus Pharmaceuticals

Steven J. Mento, Ph.D., President and CEO, +1-858-457-7222,
smento@conatuspharma.com, or Charles J. Cashion, Sr. VP and CFO,
+1-858-457-7221, ccashion@conatuspharma.com, both of Conatus Pharmaceuticals
Inc.