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REDWOOD CITY, Calif., Dec. 8, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Capnia, Inc. (NASDAQ: CAPN), focused on the development of medical diagnostics based on its proprietary Sensalyze™ technology for precision metering of gas flow, today announced a poster presentation at the 2014 American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition, December 6-9, 2014, in San Francisco. The poster describes positive proof-of-concept data for the Company's CoSense® ETCO Monitor in patients with sickle cell anemia (SCA), a disorder in which patients have chronic hemolysis. CoSense is a portable, non-invasive device that rapidly and accurately measures carbon monoxide in the exhaled breath and therefore measures the rate of hemolysis.

"Sickle cell anemia is the most common inherited lethal disorder and screening for it in resource constrained settings is a significant problem," said Ashutosh Lal, M.D., Director, Thalassemia Program, The University of California San Francisco, Benioff Children's Hospital Oakland, and the lead investigator for the study. "Early mortality remains a significant problem in SCA patients in the areas of the world where the disease is most prevalent. These findings provide scientific support for the further development of exhaled carbon monoxide measurement to monitor hemolysis in children with SCA and as a potential point-of-care screening test for SCA."

"CoSense is currently FDA cleared and CE marked for the detection of hemolysis by measuring end-tidal carbon monoxide, or ETCO," said Anish Bhatnagar, M.D., Chief Executive Officer of Capnia. "Based on the data from this study, CoSense can be an important tool for non-invasive point of care screening for babies at risk for SCA. We believe CoSense has potential applications in the monitoring of a range of diseases involving hemolysis and altered bilirubin metabolism and we appreciate being able to share these important findings with the hematology community at ASH this year."

The following is a summary of the data presented at ASH:

Title: Elevated End-Tidal Carbon Monoxide Concentration in Children with Sickle Cell Anemia
Abstract #: 1390
Session: 114
Date and Time: Saturday, December 6, 2014, 5:30 PM-7:30 PM PT
Summary: Carbon monoxide (CO) produced during oxygen-dependent cleavage of porphyrin ring of heme is excreted in exhaled breath. The catabolism of heme is increased when red blood cells are destroyed at an accelerated rate. Thus, quantifying CO in exhaled breath could serve as an indicator of hemolysis. However, the requirement for forced breath sample has precluded measurement of exhaled CO in young children. The goal of this single-center, open-label, non-randomized study was to assess passively-measured end-tidal CO concentration (ETCOc) in children with SCA. In this study, 32 children (16 with SCA and 16 controls) ranging in age from 5-14 years were evaluated.

The study results demonstrated that the mean ETCOc was 5-fold higher in SCA compared with controls, with little overlap seen between the groups. In addition, ETCOc measurements provided both sensitivity and specificity equal to 93.8% for distinguishing SCA from healthy children. These results suggest that ETCOc may be a valuable tool for non-invasive monitoring of the severity of hemolysis in SCA and that ETCOc has potential for use as a point-of-care screening test for SCA.

About Capnia

Capnia, Inc. develops and commercializes diagnostics based on its proprietary Sensalyze™ technology for precision metering of gas flow. Capnia's lead product is CoSense®, which aids in the diagnosis of hemolysis, a dangerous condition in which red blood cells degrade rapidly. CoSense is a portable, non-invasive device that rapidly and accurately measures carbon monoxide in exhaled breath. CoSense has 510(k) clearance from the FDA and was launched in the U.S. in October 2014. CoSense has also received CE Mark approval for sale in the E.U.

Forward-Looking Statements

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Capnia Contact:
David O'Toole
Chief Financial Officer
Capnia, Inc.
(650) 353-5146
dotoole@capnia.com

Investor Relations Contact:
Matthew Haines
Argot Partners
(646) 681-8192
matthew@argotpartners.com

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SOURCE Capnia, Inc.