LEIDEN, NETHERLANDS--(Marketwire - August 26, 2009) - OctoPlus N.V. (“OctoPlus” or the “Company”) (Euronext: OCTO) announces today that Joost Holthuis has decided to step down as Chief Scientific Officer after successfully leading the Company for almost 15 years since he founded OctoPlus in 1995. The Company will continue to have access to Mr. Holthuis’ experience and expertise on a consultancy basis.
Simon Sturge, CEO of OctoPlus comments: “On behalf of the Executive Board and the Board of Supervisory Directors, I would like to thank Joost for his commitment and the outstanding achievements he has made in the development of the Company throughout the 15 years that the Company has existed. He has made an invaluable contribution to the organisation we are today, growing from a start-up service provider to an internationally acknowledged centre of excellence in the areas of formulation development and controlled release drug delivery.”
Joost Holthuis comments: “It has been a great pleasure for me to have been part of this company. After 15 years it is now time for me to explore other interests. I trust the current management team to take the Company forward and I am confident that OctoPlus has a great future ahead of itself.”
For further information, please contact: Rianne Roukema, Corporate Communications: telephone number +31 (71) 524 1071 or send an e-mail to Investor Relations at IR@octoplus.nl. About OctoPlus
OctoPlus is a product-oriented biopharmaceutical company committed to the creation of improved pharmaceutical products that are based on OctoPlus’ proprietary drug delivery technologies and have fewer side effects, improved patient convenience and a better efficacy/safety balance than existing therapies. Rather than seeking to discover novel drug candidates through early stage research activities, OctoPlus focuses on the development of long-acting, controlled release versions of known protein therapeutics, other drugs, and vaccines on behalf of its clients.
The clinically most advanced product incorporating our technology is Biolex Therapeutics’ lead product Locteron®, a controlled release formulation of interferon alpha for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C. Locteron is being manufactured for Biolex Therapeutics by OctoPlus and is currently in Phase IIb clinical studies.
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.
