Basilea Pharmaceutica Announces Date and Agenda of Extraordinary General Meeting

BASEL, SWITZERLAND--(Marketwire - October 28, 2011) - Processed and transmitted by Thomson Reuters ONE. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. (SWISS: BSLN) announced today that its board of directors has set November 29, 2011 as date for the extraordinary general meeting of shareholders.

The board of directors of Basilea has set November 29, 2011 as the date for the extraordinary general meeting of shareholders that was requested by shareholder HBM BioVentures (Cayman) Ltd. The single agenda item is the election of additional board members to expand the current board.

Following discussions between Basilea and HBM BioVentures, HBM BioVentures now proposes Dr. Thomas M. Rinderknecht, Mr. Domenico Scala and Dr. Thomas Werner as additional members to the board. The board of directors of Basilea supports the election of the proposed candidates.

The invitation to the extraordinary general meeting of shareholders will be published in the Swiss Official Gazette of Commerce at least 20 days prior to the extraordinary general meeting of shareholders. The board has set November 17, 2011 as the deadline for registration in the share register in order to participate and vote at the extraordinary general meeting of shareholders.

About Basilea

Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, and listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (SIX: BSLN). Basilea Pharmaceutica International Ltd.'s fully integrated research and development operations are focused on antibiotics, antifungals and oncology drugs, as well as on the development of dermatology drugs, targeting the medical challenge of resistance and non-response to current treatment options in the hospital and specialty care setting.

Basilea is currently marketing Toctino® (alitretinoin), the only approved treatment for adults with severe chronic hand eczema unresponsive to potent topical corticosteroids, in Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Norway, Switzerland and the United Kingdom and has appointed distributors for Toctino® in other selected European markets, Canada, Israel, Mexico and the Republic of Korea. A phase III clinical program on alitretinoin for the treatment of severe chronic hand eczema is ongoing in the U.S.

For its phase III compound isavuconazole, a potential best-in-class azole antifungal for the treatment of life-threatening invasive fungal infections, the company has entered into a license, co-development and co-promotion agreement with Astellas Pharma Inc.

In addition, Basilea is developing ceftobiprole, a late-stage novel anti- MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus) broad-spectrum cephalosporin antibiotic, for the first-line treatment of potentially life-threatening resistant bacterial infections. Ceftobiprole has a broad coverage of both Gram- positive bacteria, including MRSA, and many clinically important Gram- negative bacteria such as Pseudomonas spp.

Basilea's BAL30072, a novel antibiotic for the treatment of resistant Gram- negative infections, and the oncology drug BAL101553 for the treatment of drug- resistant cancers are in phase I clinical testing.

Disclaimer

This communication expressly or implicitly contains certain forward-looking statements concerning Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. and its business. Such statements involve certain known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which could cause the actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements of Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. is providing this communication as of this date and does not undertake to update any forward- looking statements contained herein as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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Basilea Pharmaceutica AG Grenzacherstrasse 487
P.O Box Basel Switzerland

Listed: Freiverkehr in Börse Stuttgart, Freiverkehr in Börse Berlin, Open Market (Freiverkehr) in Frankfurter Wertpapierbörse, Freiverkehr in Bayerische Börse München;

Press Release (PDF): http://hugin.info/134390/R/1558966/481899.pdf

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Source: Basilea Pharmaceutica AG via Thomson Reuters ONE

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