Swedish Orphan Biovitrum Amends its Agreement With Sellers of Arexis AB

STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN--(Marketwire - March 30, 2012) -

Sobi has amended its share purchase agreement regarding the acquisition in 2005 of the pharmaceutical company Arexis AB, which included a number of development programs.

According to the amended agreement, Sobi will not have any remaining development obligations towards the sellers. In addition, Sobi will make a payment to remove all future milestone obligations for the Kiobrina program.

Under the amended agreement, Sobi will pay the sellers a total of SEK 77 M, of which SEK 43 M relates to the future milestone obligations for the Kiobrina program. Sobi will pay SEK 36 M at signing of the amended agreement, SEK 20 M in 2013, and SEK 21 M in 2014.

The payment of SEK 43 M referring to the milestones for Kiobrina will be included in intangible assets in Sobi's balance sheet. An amount of SEK 34 M will be charged against operating income as a non-recurring item in the first quarter of 2012.

As stated in Sobi's annual and quarterly reports, the sellers of Arexis had initiated arbitration as well as an expert determination procedure regarding their claims, and both proceedings will now be withdrawn avoiding a prolonged and expensive legal process.

Kiobrina is a recombinant human bile salt stimulated lipase (rhBSSL) in phase III development as an enzyme replacement therapy to improve growth in preterm infants who receive pasteurized breast milk or infant formula.


Swedish Orphan Biovitrum (Sobi)

Sobi is a leading integrated biopharmaceutical company dedicated to bringing innovative therapies and services to improve the health of rare disease patients and their families. The product portfolio comprises about 45 marketed products as well as projects in the late clinical phase. Key therapeutic areas are Inflammation and Genetics & Metabolism. In 2011, Sobi had revenues of SEK 1.9 billion and around 500 employees. The share (STO: SOBI) is listed on NASDAQ OMX Stockholm. More information is available at www.sobi.com.


The information above has been published pursuant to the Swedish Securities Market Act and/or the Financial Instruments Trading Act. The information was released for public distribution on 30 March 2012 at 08.30 CET.


Sobi press release March 30, 2012 in pdf version: http://hugin.info/134557/R/1598620/504153.pdf


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Source: Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB (publ) via Thomson Reuters ONE [HUG#1598620]


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Asa Stenqvist
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