LEIDEN, NETHERLANDS--(Marketwire - September 08, 2009) - OctoPlus N.V. ("OctoPlus") (Euronext: OCTO), the drug delivery company, announces today that it has won an expansion of a drug delivery technology evaluation contract with an existing client, a global pharmaceutical company. In 2008 and 2009 OctoPlus performed preliminary feasibility work for this client and with the results from these studies the client has decided to proceed with the evaluation of OctoPlus' technology for a product candidate in its pipeline.
In October last year OctoPlus announced a strategic focus on developing controlled release versions of existing or new drugs for clients, in addition to providing general formulation development and clinical material manufacturing. This is the fourth compound in 2009 for which OctoPlus will work on a controlled release formulation.
Under the contract announced today, OctoPlus will evaluate the feasibility of a controlled release formulation that combines the client's product candidate with OctoPlus' proprietary drug delivery technology. If the evaluation is successful, the contract may progress to a full process development, manufacturing and licensing agreement.
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.
Click here for the press release in PDF :
http://hugin.info/137076/R/1340023/320130.pdf
For further information, please contact:
Rianne Roukema
Corporate Communications
telephone number +31 (71) 524 1071
e-mail to Investor Relations at IR@octoplus.nl
