BioTransplant Files Voluntary Chapter 11 Petition - Company Will Seek to Continue to Maximize Value of Assets -
Thursday February 27, 7:58 pm ET
MEDFORD, Mass., Feb. 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- BioTransplant Incorporated (Nasdaq: BTRN - News) today announced that the Company and its wholly-owned subsidiary, Eligix, Inc. have filed voluntary petitions for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code. The filings were made in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Boston, Massachusetts.
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"While this was a difficult decision for this Company to make, the filings were necessary to preserve and maximize the value of our intellectual property and, in particular, to avoid the potentially devastating effects of the attempted termination by the Catholic University of Louvain of our exclusive license to develop and commercialize BTI-322 and its human analogue, MEDI-507. This decision will allow BioTransplant to continue its efforts to maximize the value of its key assets," commented Donald B. Hawthorne, Chief Executive Officer of BioTransplant. "We intend to continue to seek to resolve the disputes with the Catholic University of Louvain, and under the protection of the Bankruptcy Court, we firmly believe that we will be in an even stronger position to negotiate reasonable terms," stated Mr. Hawthorne.
BioTransplant's key objective remains to enter into attractive partnering and licensing agreements with respect to its key assets while preserving its rights to any potential future royalty income from MEDI-507. The compound is currently in Phase II clinical trials for psoriasis being conducted by BioTransplant's partner MedImmune, Inc. and in the xenotransplantation program being conducted by Immerge Biotherapeutics AG, its joint venture with Novartis. The Company will continue partnering and licensing discussions for the Eligix(TM) HDM Cell Separation System and the AlloMune(TM) System.
Conference Call
BioTransplant will host a conference call on Friday, February 28, 2003 at 8:30 am Eastern time to discuss today's announcement. The conference call may be accessed by dialing 800-915-4836 for domestic callers, and 973-317-5319 for international callers.
A replay of the conference call will be available from 10:30 am Eastern Time on February 28, 2003 through 11:59 PM on March 5, 2003, and may be accessed by dialing 800-428-6051 for domestic callers and 973-709-2089 for international callers. The passcode is 287178. |
