Elbion AG Partners with Oakwood Laboratories for Sustained Release Naltrexone Treatment for Alcohol Dependence

Leuven, Belgium ... elbion NV, a European specialty pharmaceutical company with a focus on neurology and immunology, today announced that it has entered a collaboration agreement with Oakwood Laboratories, L.L.C for manufacturing of its Naltrexone Depot sustained release product for alcohol dependence.

Oakwood Laboratories of Oakwood Village (near Cleveland), Ohio, USA is a privately held company specializing in the development and manufacture of controlled release injectable pharmaceutical formulations.

elbion ´s Naltrexone Depot is designed as a monthly intramuscular injection. elbion believes the formulation has significant advantages over conventional naltrexone products, for which treatment compliance is a major limiting factor. Previous clinical trials with Naltrexone Depot have shown encouraging results with a trend towards greater levels of abstinence for patients receiving treatment compared to those on placebo.

Bernd Kastler, CEO of elbion, commented: “We expect this agreement to expedite the completion of development of this advanced clinical product, which we believe can be a significant value driver for elbion. Alcohol dependence has a profound effect on the lives of millions of people around the world and we believe that Naltrexone Depot has the potential to play a major role in their treatment. We are very impressed with Oakwood’s capabilities, and find them to be a premier service provider in this particular field.”

Mark Smith, President of Oakwood said, “We are pleased to enter into this collaboration with elbion, and its dynamic and experienced management team. We believe that Oakwood’s ability to provide rapid formulation development and refinement, as well as scale up and clinical and commercial manufacture, will bring this project to a successful conclusion.”

View the full press release: http://www.elbion.com/pdf/elbion_Oakwood_Jan08_ENG.pdf

elbion NV Halvestraat 3 3000 Leuven Belgium

phone: +32 (0)476 93 45 79 www.elbion.com

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