LEIDEN, NETHERLANDS--(Marketwire - June 23, 2009) - OctoPlus N.V. ("OctoPlus" or the "Company") (Euronext: OCTO) announces today that it has started pharmaceutical production in its new manufacturing facility in Leiden. The facility has received a license from the Dutch authorities to manufacture pharmaceutical products according to international GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) guidelines and the first production has taken place successfully.
The expansion of OctoPlus' headquarters started in November 2006. The new building comprises offices, laboratories and a GMP manufacturing plant that produces final drug product for OctoPlus' clients. Expansion of the manufacturing capacity was necessary to facilitate the growing demand from OctoPlus' clients. With the expansion, OctoPlus' manufacturing capacity more than doubled and the Company can now produce clinical scale Phase I, II, III and even small-scale commercial supplies of injectable pharmaceutical products and other complex formulations.
Simon Sturge, CEO of OctoPlus comments: "We are very proud to report that the expansion of the production facility in our headquarters in Leiden has obtained official approval from the Dutch authorities and we have now started producing pharmaceutical products as a fully licensed facility."
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 longer 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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