New York, London, Bermuda, 09 January 2008 - Celtic Pharmaceutical Holdings L.P.
("Celtic Pharma") and Inspiration Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. ("Inspiration")
announced today that they have agreed to enter into a collaboration intended to
enhance the development of Inspiration's Factor IX for the treatment of
Hemophilia B. Hemophilia B, the second most common type of hemophilia and a
$650 million global market today, is largely an inherited disorder in which
Factor IX, one of the proteins needed to form blood clots, is missing or
reduced. Inspiration's development program is aimed at bringing more
affordable, safe and effective therapeutic options to Hemophilia B patients and
potentially providing treatment options that are less disruptive to their daily
lives. Under the terms of the collaboration agreement, valued at up to $35 million,
Celtic will take an equity stake in Inspiration as well as provide clinical
development expertise and funding for Inspiration's lead Factor IX product,
which is scheduled to enter Phase I safety, pharmacokinetics and efficacy
studies in 2008. A second generation product, which Celtic and Inspiration aim
to introduce into clinical development in 2009, will expand the portfolio by
potentially offering improved potency, and longer duration of action to reduce
the frequency of injections in prophylactic use. Prophylaxis is well established
to be medically preferable for avoiding cumulative and permanent damage from
bleeding incidents while significantly reducing the disruption to the patients'
daily lives.
