OctoPlus Publishes Business Update

LEIDEN, NETHERLANDS--(Marketwire - May 19, 2009) - OctoPlus N.V. ("OctoPlus" or "the Company") (Euronext: OCTO), today publishes a business update for the first quarter of 2009.

Highlights

Financial

--  Successful equity raising of EUR  6 million with an international
    consortium of investors completed in February
--  Revenue growth well on track with guidance for the full year of EUR
    19 million
--  Continued positive cash flow from operations
    

Operational

--  Contract development service contract signed with Galapagos in
    February
--  Seventh client signed drug delivery evaluation contract in April
--  Phase IIb clinical study with Locteron® commenced by OctoPlus'
    licensee Biolex in April
    

Strategy

--  Ongoing success for OctoPlus' new service-oriented strategy with
    growing interest for drug delivery technology evaluations
    

Outlook

--  OctoPlus reiterates the expected 2009 revenues of approximately EUR
    19 million
    

Simon Sturge, CEO of OctoPlus comments: "I am very happy to report that the first quarter of 2009 was very successful for OctoPlus. With our equity raising in February, the Company's cash position was strengthened, and service revenues are also in line with our expectations. In addition, since we changed our focus entirely to service-based product development, we have been able to significantly grow the number of projects in acquisition for the evaluation of our drug delivery technology."

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.

Click here for the press release in PDF format http://hugin.info/137076/R/1315999/306516.pdf