LEIDEN, THE NETHERLANDS--(Marketwire - April 23, 2009) - OctoPlus N.V. (“OctoPlus” or “the Company”) (EURONEXT: OCTO) announces today that the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders (the “Meeting”) has appointed Mr. James Gale to the Board of Supervisory Directors. The Meeting also reappointed Mr. Philip Smith and among others approved changes to the Company’s Articles of Association according to a proposal by the Company, to reflect changes in the Company’s share capital and corporate governance as a result of the February 2009 private placement.
Mr. Gale has been appointed for a period of four years. Mr. Gale is Managing Partner at Signet Healthcare, one of the major investors in OctoPlus’ February 2009 private placement. He is a supervisory director at AlpexPharma S.A., Cedarburg Pharmaceuticals Inc., Cydex Pharmaceuticals Inc., SpePharm B.V. and Paladin Laboratories Inc. Signet currently holds 16.6% of OctoPlus’ outstanding shares. Mr. Gale holds no shares and no rights to acquire shares in the capital of OctoPlus. Due to his position within Signet, Mr. Gale is not independent within the meaning of the Dutch Corporate Governance Code.
Mr. Smith was appointed as member of the Board of Supervisory Directors in 2005, for a period of four years and has now been reappointed for a period of four years. Mr. Smith holds no shares and no rights to acquire shares in the capital of OctoPlus. Mr. Smith is independent within the meaning of the Dutch Corporate Governance Code.
For further information, please contact:
Rianne Roukema, Corporate Communications: telephone number +31 (71) 524 1071 or e-mail 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 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.
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For further information, please contact:
Rianne Roukema
Corporate Communications:
telephone number +31 (71) 524 1071
e-mail IR@octoplus.nl
