LEIDEN, NETHERLANDS -- 09/03/08 --
OctoPlus N.V. ("OctoPlus" or the "Company") (Euronext: OCTO), the
drug delivery and development company, announces today that it has
received an additional EUR 0.75 million from its co-development partner
Biolex Therapeutics as part of its recently announced bridge
financing. The payment by Biolex will expand OctoPlus' bridge
financing to a total of EUR 6.75 million. The other participants in the
bridge financing are OctoPlus' major shareholders Life Sciences
Partners and SR One.
The bridge loan may be converted by each of the lenders for a
participation in a potential private offering, or alternatively, in
ordinary shares, which will have a dilutive effect. If and when the
loan is converted into ordinary shares, these shares will be issued
at the higher of EUR 1.- or a 45% discount to the 10 days average of
the then prevailing stock price.
For further information, please contact:
Rianne Roukema, Corporate Communications,
telephone number +31 (71) 524 1071
or e-mail IR@octoplus.nl.
About OctoPlus
OctoPlus N.V. is a product-oriented biopharmaceutical company
committed to the creation of improved pharmaceutical products that
are based on OctoPlus' proprietary drug delivery technologies and
have fewer side effects, improved patient convenience and a better
efficacy/safety balance than existing therapies. Rather than seeking
to discover novel drug candidates through early stage research
activities, OctoPlus focuses on the development of long-acting,
controlled-release versions of known protein therapeutics, other
drugs, and vaccines.
Our pipeline consists of 5 products in pre-clinical and clinical
development. Our lead product is Locteron, a controlled release
formulation of interferon alfa for the treatment of chronic hepatitis
C, which we are co-developing with Biolex Therapeutics. Locteron is
currently in Phase II clinical studies. Furthermore, our pipeline
comprises a product candidate for the treatment of chronic middle ear
infection, which has completed Phase II clinical proof of concept
testing, a pre-clinical GLP-1 analogue product candidate for the
treatment of diabetes and two pre-clinical-stage single-shot
vaccines.
In addition, OctoPlus is a European leading provider of advanced drug
formulation and clinical scale manufacturing services to the
pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, with a focus on
difficult to formulate active pharmaceutical ingredients. The
earnings and expertise that we derive from rendering formulation and
manufacturing services help to support our own drug development
programs.
OctoPlus is listed on Euronext Amsterdam by NYSE Euronext under the
symbol OCTO. For more information about OctoPlus, please visit our
website www.octoplus.nl.
This document may contain certain forward-looking statements relating
to the business, financial performance and results of OctoPlus N.V.
and the industry in which it operates. These statements are based on
OctoPlus N.V.'s current plans, estimates and projections, as well as
its expectations of external conditions and events. In particular the
words "expect", "anticipate", "predict", "estimate", "project",
"plan", "may", "should", "would", "will", "intend", "believe" and
similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking
statements. We caution investors that a number of important factors,
and the inherent risks and uncertainties that such statements
involve, could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially
from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. In the event
of any inconsistency between an English version and a Dutch version
of this document, the English version will prevail over the Dutch
version.
Press release in PDF: http://hugin.info/137076/R/1248345/270646.pdf
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