OctoPlus Announces 2011 First Half-Year Results

LEIDEN, NETHERLANDS--(Marketwire - July 29, 2011) - OctoPlus N.V. (“OctoPlus” or the “Company”) (Euronext: OCTO), the specialty pharmaceutical company, announces today its results for the six-month period ended 30 June 2011.

Highlights first half-year 2011

1. Drug delivery technology commercialization

• Full development of our newly signed agreement with ESBATech, a subsidiary of Alcon/Novartis has started. This is our first project in ophthalmology (eye care). Injections into the eye are an area where the benefits of reduced injection frequency are obvious.
• We signed a new drug delivery evaluation contract with a top-10 biopharmaceutical company in April.
• Revenues from projects based on our proprietary drug delivery technology continue to grow.

2. Locteron

• Successful final results of Phase IIb clinical study demonstrated Locteron’s superior profile in terms of significantly reduced side effects and improved convenience, further strengthening our confidence in the potential of this best-in-class hepatitis C product.
• Biolex has announced that Phase III studies are planned to commence in 2012.
• We expect to play an active role in the preparation of the next clinical phase.

3. Contract formulation and manufacturing services

• We signed service contracts with three new clients including a new process development and manufacturing contract which was announced in July.
• Net bookings (signed new work minus cancellations) in the first half-year of 2011 increased by 20% versus prior year.
• Non-Locteron revenues increased compared to the same period last year as a result of our strengthened order book.
• OctoPlus has now worked for more than 125 companies including half of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies worldwide.

Financial results

• Non-Locteron service revenues increased by 18% to EUR 3.8 million (2010: EUR 3.2 million).
• Total revenues decreased by 2% to EUR 4.0 million (2010: EUR 4.0 million) driven by lower revenues from Locteron, which were EUR 0.1 million (2010: EUR 0.6 million).
• Total costs (including interest) further reduced by 10% to EUR 6.8 million (2010: EUR 7.6 million) as a result of continued cost control.
• Net loss reduced by 19% to EUR 2.9 million (2010: net loss of EUR 3.5 million).
• Cash outflow of EUR 1.5 million (2010: cash outflow EUR 2.9 million) resulted in a cash position of EUR 1.2 million at 30 June 2011 (EUR 0.4 million last year).
• A EUR 2.0 million credit line facility is in place with ABN Amro Bank, of which EUR 0.9 million was available per 30 June 2011.

Outlook
We continue to focus on strengthening our portfolio including a well-balanced mix of “fee for service” projects and longer-term contracts where we retain upside in the form of royalties and milestones. In addition, we will continue to focus on cost control.

Jan Egberts, M.D., CEO of OctoPlus comments: “In the first six months of my time at OctoPlus we have dedicated a significant amount of time on improving operational efficiency, streamlining organisational structure and maintaining our reduced cost base. During this period I travelled extensively to both existing and new customers. Our team has identified a number of high-value opportunities in specialty generics, where we can co-invest and leverage our world-class expertise in formulation development. Our acquisition pipeline is slowly re-emerging but due to difficult market conditions our lead time in closing deals has increased over the past year. During the remainder of the year we will also look for other ways to strengthen our balance sheet. Finally, we look forward to participate in the Phase III clinical development for Locteron. We expect our focus and dedication to pay off in the periods to follow.”

Conference call and webcast presentation
OctoPlus will hold a conference call and webcast presentation today at 10:00 AM CET. This event can also be followed live via OctoPlus’ website www.octoplus.nl. If you would like to participate in the conference call, please dial in on telephone number +31 (0) 45 631 6902. After the presentation, Jan Egberts, CEO of OctoPlus, and Susan Swarte, CFO, will be available to answer questions. After the event, the webcast will be available for replay on the Company’s website.

About OctoPlus
OctoPlus is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development and manufacture of improved injectable pharmaceuticals based on our proprietary drug delivery technologies that exhibit fewer side effects, improved patient convenience and a better efficacy/safety balance than existing therapies. OctoPlus also focuses on the development of long-acting, controlled release versions of known protein therapeutics, peptides and small molecules, including specialty generics.

The clinically most advanced product incorporating our technology is Locteron®, a controlled release formulation of interferon alpha for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C. OctoPlus licensed Locteron exclusively to Biolex in October 2008. Locteron is being manufactured for Biolex by OctoPlus and has recently completed Phase IIb clinical studies with superior clinical data versus current treatment.

In addition, OctoPlus is a leading European provider of advanced drug formulation and clinical scale manufacturing services to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, with a focus on difficult-to-formulate active pharmaceutical ingredients.

OctoPlus is listed on Euronext Amsterdam by NYSE Euronext under the symbol OCTO. For more information about OctoPlus, please visit our website www.octoplus.nl.

This document may contain certain forward-looking statements relating to the business, financial performance and results of OctoPlus and the industry in which it operates. These statements are based on OctoPlus’ current plans, estimates and projections, as well as its expectations of external conditions and events. In particular the words “expect”, “anticipate”, “predict”, “estimate”, “project”, “plan”, “may”, “should”, “would”, “will”, “intend”, “believe” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. We caution investors that a number of important factors, and the inherent risks and uncertainties that such statements involve, could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. In the event of any inconsistency between an English version and a Dutch version of this document, the English version will prevail over the Dutch version.

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