Lipoxen and Intervet Announce a Collaboration Agreement to Develop Sustained-Release Insulin

Intervet herewith publishes a press release by Lipoxen

Lipoxen and Intervet, a leading Animal Health company, Announce a Collaboration Agreement to Develop Sustained-Release Insulin
- Collaboration to utilise Lipoxen’s PolyXen® Protein Drug Delivery Technology - 
 
London, UK, 24 September, 2007 –Lipoxen PLC (AIM: LPX) and Intervet, a leading animal health company, today announced that the companies have entered into an exclusive worldwide development and licence agreement to develop a sustained-release insulin for the veterinary health market.

The signing of this agreement by Intervet triggers an upfront payment to Lipoxen. The agreement also provides for further clinical, regulatory and sales milestone payments to Lipoxen. In addition, Lipoxen will receive royalties on future product sales.

Intervet has signed this agreement in order to access Lipoxen’s unique PolyXen® drug delivery technology. This technology has been developed to improve the pharmacokinetic profile of protein drugs including extending their therapeutic half life, thereby reducing the frequency of administration. PolyXen® is based on linking the therapeutic proteins, or peptides, of interest to the naturally occurring polymer polysialic acid.  It improves the stability and the therapeutic half-life of protein drugs and improves their solubility and immunological characteristics, while maintaining biological activity and minimizing toxicity.

Scott Maguire, CEO of Lipoxen, said: “We are delighted that Intervet has decided to enter into this collaboration with Lipoxen to apply PolyXen® to develop a sustained release insulin formulation for veterinary use.  This is the third exclusive license agreement that we have put in place with large biopharmaceutical companies granting access to our proprietary protein delivery technology and we believe that we are well positioned to leverage our technology further through additional agreements in the pharmaceutical space.”

He added “Intervet is the 3rd largest animal health company globally, by sales, and is targeting a veterinary market worth $40 million globally with this product.  Importantly this collaboration reinforces our own view that our technology can deliver a sustained-insulin formulation. Lipoxen is currently developing a human sustained-release insulin which is expected to enter clinical development prior to the end of 2007.”

Ellen de Brabander, Vice President Research and Development of Intervet International stated: “It is Intervet’s ambition to develop innovative new animal health products. Therefore we are very open for collaborations with partners who have unique expertise that complements our in house strengths. This collaboration agreement with Lipoxen opens up new opportunities for our insulin products.”

Enquiries

Lipoxen PLC 
M. Scott Maguire, CEO +44 (0)20 7691 3583
 
Citigate Dewe Rogerson +44 (0)20 7638 9571
David Dible/Yvonne Alexander 
 
Grant Thornton Corporate Finance +44 (0)20 7383 5100
Philip Secrett/Maureen Tai 

Notes to Editor

Lipoxen PLC (AiM:LPX) is a biopharmaceutical company specializing in the development of high value differentiated biologicals, vaccines and oncology drugs. Potential products, currently under development include improved formulations of important biologicals such as EPO, G-CSF, insulin and Interferon-alpha. These novel products which are based on Lipoxen’s proprietary PolyXen® technology address markets in excess of US$1 billion. This technology is designed to improve the stability, biological half-life and immunologic characteristics of therapeutic proteins naturally. Lipoxen has two further naturally-derived proprietary delivery technologies ImuXen® and a related liposomal technology for the formulation of cytotoxic oncology drugs, which are being developed to enhance the efficacy and safety of various vaccines such as Hepatitis B and pneumococcal vaccines, as well as a number of anti-cancer agents like paclitaxel. The Company’s proprietary delivery technologies are attracting significant interest and Lipoxen is currently co-developing products with Baxter and The Serum Institute of India, one of the world’s leading vaccine companies.

Lipoxen was admitted to trading on the AIM Market of the London Stock Exchange in January 2006.

This announcement includes 'forward-looking statements' which include all statements other than statements of historical facts, including, without limitation, those regarding the Company's financial position, business strategy, plans and objectives of management for future operations (including development plans and objectives relating to the Company's products and services), and any statements preceded by, followed by or that include forward-looking terminology such as the words 'targets', 'believes', 'estimates', 'expects', 'aims', 'intends', 'will', 'can', 'may', 'anticipates', 'would', 'should', 'could' or similar expressions or the negative thereof. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors beyond the Company's control that could cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on numerous assumptions regarding the Company's present and future business strategies and the environment in which the Company will operate in the future. Among the important factors that could cause the Company's actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include those relating to The Company's funding requirements, regulatory approvals, clinical trials, reliance on third parties, intellectual property, key personnel and other factors. These forward-looking statements speak only as at the date of this announcement. The Company expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to disseminate any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained in this announcement to reflect any change in the Company's expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statements are based. As a result of these factors, readers are cautioned not to rely on any forward-looking statement.