Capricor Therapeutics Appoints Houman Hemmati M.D., Ph.D. to Vice President of Medical and Clinical Development for New Therapies

Company to Drive Forward Development of Promising Therapies Including Exosome Platform

LOS ANGELES, June 17, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Capricor Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq:CAPR), a biotechnology company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of first-in-class therapeutics for the treatment of diseases today announced the appointment of Houman Hemmati, M.D., Ph.D. to the newly created position of Vice President of Medical and Clinical Development for New Therapies. In this role, Dr. Hemmati will work to drive promising new therapies such as Capricor's exosome platform into clinical development as he works closely with the R&D, manufacturing and product development teams.

"Dr. Hemmati strengthens our team with valuable clinical development experience having driven multiple key high-profile products through the clinical trial process prior to joining Capricor. This timely addition to our management team comes as we expand our platform and work to bring new exosome therapeutics into clinical development next year," said Linda Marbán, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Capricor, "Our exosomes, which are nanometer sized vesicles packed full of RNAs, have demonstrated exciting capabilities to date including the ability to enact various structural and functional changes therapeutically beneficial in animal models. Further our exosomes offer a broad spectrum of therapeutic potential primarily focused on their anti-inflammatory and anti-fibrotic properties that we are now poised to further develop."

Prior to joining Capricor, Dr. Hemmati, an ophthalmologist, was Director of Clinical Development at Allergan, where responsibilities included early to late stage clinical trial development of high profile ophthalmic products such as Restasis-X as well as Allegan's androgen based ophthalmic treatment and AGN 199201 for presbyopia. Prior to his time at Allergan, he co-founded Avicenna Pharmaceuticals in Paris, France, to advance a technology based on cancer stem cell mutations he had discovered at Caltech.

Dr. Hemmati earned his B.S. in biological sciences at Stanford, M.D. at UCLA and Ph.D. in biology at Caltech. He completed his medical training at the facilities of Stanford Hospital, the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins Hospital and Harvard Medical School while completing a post-doctoral fellowship in the laboratory of Dr. Robert Langer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

About Capricor Therapeutics

Capricor Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq:CAPR) is a clinical-stage biotechnology company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of first-in-class therapeutics for the treatment of diseases. Our lead programs target post myocardial infarction (heart attack), heart failure and Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. The Company has two leading product candidates under investigation: CAP-1002, a cardiac cell therapy and Cenderitide, a natriuretic peptide receptor agonist. CAP-1002 is in development for the treatment of post myocardial infarction (heart attack), advanced heart failure and Duchenne muscular dystrophy associated cardiomyopathy. Cenderitide is in development for the outpatient treatment of heart failure as well as potential other indications. In addition, the Company is conducting research and development on its exosomes platform technology for cardiac diseases and other potential indications. For additional information visit www.capricor.com.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

Statements in this press release regarding the efficacy, safety, and intended utilization of Capricor's product candidates; the conduct, size, timing and results of discovery efforts and clinical trials; scope, duration, validity and enforceability of intellectual property rights; plans regarding regulatory filings, future research and clinical trials; plans regarding current and future collaborative activities and the ownership of commercial rights; future royalty streams, and any other statements about Capricor's management team's future expectations, beliefs, goals, plans or prospects constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any statements that are not statements of historical fact (including statements containing the words "believes," "plans," "could," "anticipates," "expects," "estimates," "should," "target," "will," "would" and similar expressions) should also be considered to be forward-looking statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements. More information about these and other risks that may impact our business are set forth in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 16, 2015, in our Registration Statement on Form S-1, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 6, 2015 and in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ending March 31, 2015, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 13, 2015. All forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information available to us as of the date hereof, and we assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

CONTACT: For more information, please contact:

         Corporate Contact
         Capricor Therapeutics, Inc.
         AJ Bergmann, Vice President of Finance
         +1-310-358-3200
         abergmann@capricor.com

         Media Relations
         Russo Partners
         Christopher Hippolyte
         +1-646-942-5634
         chris.hippolyte@russopartnersllc.com

         Investor Relations:
         Russo Partners
         Robert Flamm, Ph.D.
         +1-212-845-4226
         robert.flamm@russopartnersllc.com

Released June 17, 2015