MORRIS PLAINS, N.J., June 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Immunomedics, Inc. , a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing monoclonal antibodies to treat cancer and other serious diseases, today announced that the Company is set to join the broad-market Russell 3000(R) Index when Russell Investment Group reconstitutes its comprehensive set of U.S. and global equity indexes on June 22, 2007, according to a preliminary list of additions posted on Monday, June 11, 2007 on www.russell.com.
“The preliminary selection to the Russell 3000(R) Index is a recognition of our efforts this past year to increase our visibility within the investment community, which led to the exceptional growth in the market capitalization of the Company,” commented Cynthia L. Sullivan, President and Chief Executive Officer. “While we are pleased to be included in the Index, our goal is to continue increasing and diversifying our shareholder base as well as developing our rich pipeline of early and late-stage antibody-based product portfolio, and out-licensing suitable product candidates for further clinical development and commercialization,” she added.
Membership in the Russell 3000, which remains in place for one year, means automatic inclusion in the large-cap Russell 1000(R) Index or small-cap Russell 2000(R) as well as the appropriate growth and value style indexes. Russell determines membership for its equity indexes primarily by objective, market-capitalization rankings and style attributes.
The Russell 3000 serves as the U.S. component to the Russell Global Index, which Russell launched earlier this year.
Russell indexes are widely used by investment managers and institutional investors for index funds and as benchmarks for both passive and active investment strategies. An industry-leading $4 trillion in assets currently are benchmarked to them.
Annual reconstitution of Russell’s U.S. indexes captures the 4,000 largest U.S. stocks as of the end of May, ranking them by total market capitalization. The largest 1,000 companies in this ranking comprise the Russell 1000 and the next 2,000 companies become the Russell 2000. These investment tools originated from Russell’s multi-manager investment business in the early 1980s when the company saw the need for a more objective, market-driven set of benchmarks in order to evaluate outside investment managers.
About Immunomedics
Immunomedics is a New Jersey-based biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of monoclonal, antibody-based products for the targeted treatment of cancer, autoimmune and other serious diseases. We have developed a number of advanced proprietary technologies that allow us to create humanized antibodies that can be used either alone in unlabeled or “naked” form, or conjugated with radioactive isotopes, chemotherapeutics or toxins, in each case to create highly targeted agents. Using these technologies, we have built a pipeline of therapeutic product candidates that utilize several different mechanisms of action. We have licensed our lead product candidate, epratuzumab, to UCB, S.A. for the treatment of all autoimmune disease indications worldwide. We have retained the rights for epratuzumab in oncology indications for which UCB has been granted a buy-in option. UCB has development, manufacture and commercialization rights, and is responsible for all clinical trials evaluating epratuzumab for the treatment of patients with moderate and severe lupus. At present, there is no cure for lupus and no new lupus drug has been approved in the U.S. in the last 40 years. The Company is conducting clinical trials with hA20 in patients with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, epratuzumab as a potential therapeutic for patients with lymphoma and leukemia, 90Y-epratuzumab for the therapy of patients with lymphoma, 90Y-hPAM4 for pancreas cancer therapy and hCD74 as a therapy for patients with multiple myeloma. We believe that our portfolio of intellectual property, which includes approximately 108 patents issued in the United States, and more than 250 other issued patents worldwide, protects our product candidates and technologies. We also have a majority ownership in IBC Pharmaceuticals, Inc., which is developing a novel Dock and Lock (DNL) methodology, and a new method of delivering imaging and therapeutic agents selectively to disease, especially different solid cancers (colorectal, lung, pancreas, etc.), by proprietary, antibody-based, pretargeting methods. For additional information on us, please visit our web site at http://www.immunomedics.com. The information on our website does not, however, form a part of this press release.
This release, in addition to historical information, may contain forward- looking statements made pursuant to the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements, including statements regarding clinical trials, out-licensing arrangements (including the timing and amount of contingent payments), forecasts of future operating results, and capital raising activities, involve significant risks and uncertainties and actual results could differ materially from those expressed or implied herein. Factors that could cause such differences include, but are not limited to, risks associated with new product development (including clinical trials outcome and regulatory requirements/actions), our dependence on our licensing partner for the further development of epratuzumab for autoimmune indications, competitive risks to marketed products and availability of required financing and other sources of funds on acceptable terms, if at all, as well as the risks discussed in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company is not under any obligation, and the Company expressly disclaims any obligation, to update or alter any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
For More Information: Dr. Chau Cheng Associate Director, Investor Relations & Business Analysis (973) 605-8200, extension 123 ccheng@immunomedics.com
Immunomedics, Inc.
CONTACT: Dr. Chau Cheng, Associate Director, Investor Relations & BusinessAnalysis, +1-973-605-8200, ext. 123, ccheng@immunomedics.com
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