Cytos Biotechnology AG Reports Third Quarter 2012 Financial Results, Recent Development and Outlook

ZURICH, Nov. 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Cytos Biotechnology Ltd ("Cytos" or the "Company") announced today financial results and business highlights for the quarter ended September 30, 2012.

Highlights

Cytos completed its restructuring during the third quarter 2012 with the appointment of Dr. Christian Itin as Chief Executive Officer in October, taking office on November 5, 2012. Dr. Itin is also proposed to be elected to the Board of Directors and to chair the Board of Directors upon election at an Extraordinary Shareholders' Meeting to take place on November 20, 2012. Dr. Thomas Hecht and Mr. Jakob Schlapbach will step down from the Cytos Board at this meeting.

During the period, the Company also made good progress in preparing the Phase 2b clinical trial with its lead product candidate, CYT003, in allergic asthma which is expected to start in the fourth quarter. This important trial is aiming to recruit approximately 360 adult patients suffering from moderate to severe allergic asthma not sufficiently controlled on current standard therapy. The study is expected to be conducted at more than 90 centres in North America and Europe, and to read out top-line data in 2014.

Dr. Itin (age 48 yrs.) is the former President and Chief Executive Officer of Micromet Inc., a previously Nasdaq-listed biopharmaceutical company, with headquarters in the USA and a R&D center in Germany. Dr. Itin led Micromet as CEO from 2004 until its acquisition by Amgen for $1.2 billion in cash in March 2012. In total he spent 13 years in senior management roles at Micromet. Prior to joining Micromet in 1999, Dr. Itin co-founded Zyomyx, Inc., a protein chip company based in Hayward, CA, USA.

Dr. Itin was awarded a degree in biology and a Ph.D. in cell biology from the University of Basel. In addition, he has undertaken post-doctoral research at the Biocenter of Basel University and at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

The detailed Q3 Financial Report can be downloaded at http://www.cytos.com/userfiles/file/Cytos_Q3_2012_E.pdf

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About Cytos Biotechnology Ltd
Cytos Biotechnology Ltd is a Swiss public biotechnology company focused on the development of its lead product candidate CYT003 in allergic asthma. CYT003 has successfully completed a phase 2a trial in patients with persistent allergic asthma receiving standard inhaled corticosteroid (ICS) treatment, where it was shown to maintain lung function and asthma control as ICS treatment was withdrawn. CYT003 acts via a novel mechanism of action: it targets the Toll-like receptor 9 (TLR-9) pathway, which inhibits the immune response that leads to the allergic asthma response. Cytos plans to initiate Phase 2b studies with CYT003 in allergic asthma patients in 2012.

Cytos was founded in 1995 as a spinoff from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich. It is located in Schlieren (Zurich). The Company is listed according to the Main Standard on the SIX Swiss Exchange Ltd under the symbol CYTN.

This foregoing press release may contain forward-looking statements that include words or phrases such as "are intended for", "are designed to", or other similar expressions. These forward-looking statements are subject to a variety of significant uncertainties, including scientific, business, economic and financial factors, and therefore actual results may differ significantly from those presented. There can be no assurance that any further therapeutic entities will enter clinical trials, that clinical trial results will be predictive for future results, that therapeutic entities will be the subject of filings for regulatory approval, that any drug candidates will receive marketing approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration or equivalent regulatory authorities, or that drugs will be marketed successfully. Against the background of these uncertainties readers should not rely on forward-looking statements. The Company assumes no responsibility to update forward-looking statements or adapt them to future events or developments.

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SOURCE Cytos Biotechnology Ltd