OctoPlus N.V. (“OctoPlus” or the “Company”) (Euronext: OCTO), the drug delivery company, announces today its results for the six-month period ended 30 June 2009.
Highlights for the first six months
Financial results
Operational results
Strategy
Ongoing success for OctoPlus’ new service-oriented strategy with two additional drug delivery technology evaluation contracts signed in 2009
Outlook
OctoPlus reiterates the forecasted 2009 revenues of approximately € 19 million
Simon Sturge, CEO of OctoPlus comments: “We are very pleased with the accomplishments made in the first six months of 2009. Revenues increased significantly as a result of our new service-based strategy and we were able to report two new drug delivery technology evaluation contracts, the opening of our new manufacturing facility as well as great progress in the clinical development of Locteron. We have been more aggressive in reducing the cost base of the business than originally planned in order to be able to be more competitive in winning new business, and as a consequence restructuring costs in the first half of the year have been higher than expected. These one-off costs, along with final costs related to the new manufacturing facility, have prevented us from being operationally cash flow positive in the first six months of 2009.”
Click here for the full press release including financial tables
Conference call and webcast presentation
OctoPlus will hold a conference call and webcast presentation today at 10:00 AM CET. This event can also be followed live via OctoPlus’ website www.octoplus.nl. If you would like to participate in the conference call, please dial in on telephone number +31 (0) 45 631 6901. After the presentation, Simon Sturge, CEO of OctoPlus, Susan Swarte, CFO, and Leo Vissers, Financial Controller, will be available to answer questions. After the event, the webcast will be available for replay on the Company’s website.
Contact
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 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.
