OctoPlus Signs Service Contract With Axentis Pharma AG

LEIDEN, THE NETHERLANDS--(Marketwire - September 14, 2009) - OctoPlus N.V. (“OctoPlus” or the “Company”) (Euronext: OCTO), the drug delivery company, announces today that it has signed a pharmaceutical development and manufacturing contract with a new client, Swiss-based Axentis Pharma AG. The undisclosed contract value contributes to OctoPlus’ annual revenues, for which the Company reiterates its guidance of EUR 19 million.

Under the contract terms, OctoPlus will perform process development and clinical manufacturing of Axentis Pharma’s lead product, which is an inhalable liposomal formulation of tobramycin for the treatment of cystic fibrosis.

OctoPlus provides formulation development and clinical material manufacturing services to biotech and pharmaceutical companies worldwide. In addition to its expertise in formulation and manufacturing, OctoPlus offers its clients drug delivery technologies for the development of controlled release versions of existing or new drugs.

About Axentis Pharma AG

Axentis Pharma is a respiratory specialty pharmaceutical company whose core competence is the combination of a fully patented, liposome-based drug delivery system with already established and well-characterised therapeutic agents. The company is using its platform delivery technology, named Fluidosomes™ technology, for the development of its lead product, an inhalable liposomal formulation of tobramycin. Axentis Pharma’s lead product is designed to treat bacterial infections in the lungs. For more information on Axentis Pharma, please visit www.axentispharma.com.

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. OctoPlus licensed Locteron exclusively to Biolex in October 2008. 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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