Apthera, Inc. Announces Product License Agreement With Kwang Dong Pharmaceutical

SCOTTSDALE, AZ--(Marketwire - June 04, 2009) -

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Apthera’s Website

Kwang Dong’s Website

Apthera, Inc. today announced that it entered into a commercial license agreement with Kwang Dong Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. for use of Apthera's NeuVax™, a peptide-based cancer immunotherapy product. Under the terms of the agreement, Kwangdong will receive a license to sell NeuVax in South Korea for the treatment of early-stage breast cancer. Apthera will receive milestone payments as well as a royalty on commercial sales. Kwang Dong has also made an equity investment in Apthera and will invest in a future round of financing.

"We're pleased to be working with Kwang Dong and believe they will be a very strong marketing partner for NeuVax in their territory," said Alton C. Morgan, Ph.D., President and CEO of Apthera.

About Apthera

Apthera, Inc. is a privately held, Arizona-based biotechnology company developing a pipeline of peptide-based immunotherapies for cancers that express HER2/neu, a well-validated and established oncology target. The Company's lead product, NeuVax, contains the E75 peptide which is one of the rare T-cell peptides that has been documented to elevate or boost pre-existing anti-cancer immunity in cancer patients. High-level immune responses in patients administered NeuVax are consistent with recall responses of T-cells. NeuVax's initial indication is for early-stage breast cancer patients who don't qualify for trastuzumab (Herceptin®) therapy. For more information about the Company visit www.apthera.com.

About Kwang Dong

Kwang Dong is one of the major pharmaceutical companies in Korea and is highly experienced in introducing and developing late-stage drugs for the Korean market. Kwang Dong's main focus lies in the development of drugs within oncology and QOL and Kwang Dong expects that NeuVax will reinforce Kwang Dong's presence in oncology together with its existing products and pipelines in development. For more information, visit Kwang Dong's website at www.ekdp.com.

This news release contains forward-looking statements. These statements are not historical facts and are subject to risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results and the timing of certain events to differ materially from those set forth in or implied herein including, without limitation, risks associated with clinical development, regulatory approvals, product commercialization, intellectual property claims litigation and other risks associated with the Company's proposed activities.