Pharmos Receives Grant from Israel Government
Thursday April 1, 4:01 pm ET
Office of the Chief Scientist Awards US$ 3.1 Million to Fund Dexanabinol Development
REHOVOT, Israel and ISELIN, N.J., April 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Pharmos Corporation (Nasdaq: PARS - News) today announced it has been awarded a grant of up to US$ 3.1 million by the Office of the Chief Scientist (OCS) of Israel's Ministry of Industry and Trade to help fund the Company's development of dexanabinol. Approximately 93% of the funding is designated for the development of dexanabinol as a treatment for traumatic brain injury (TBI), currently in advanced Phase III clinical testing with patient enrollment completed and results expected by yearend. The remaining portion of the grant will help fund the development of dexanabinol as a preventive agent against cognitive impairment in patients undergoing major heart surgery, in which patient enrollment in a Phase II study is underway. The grant is available through fiscal year 2004 and is paid in direct relationship to actual expenditures made by the Company in the designated programs.
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"We are pleased to be awarded this and previous funding from the Office of the Chief Scientist, which will help offset expenses in our clinical development programs as they advance toward completion," said Haim Aviv, Ph.D., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. "The grant, which is in line with our expectations, is important confirmation of our work with dexanabinol. We appreciate the support from the OCS especially in light of the agency's budgetary constraints."
Prior OCS grants to help fund various research and development projects totaled approximately US$ 10.9 million at December 31, 2003. The Company is required to pay royalties to the OCS ranging from 3% to 5% of product sales, if any, that result from the research activities conducted with such funds, up to the total amount of the grants.
The OCS is largely focused on promoting the growth of commercial research and development in Israel. Its implementation of a 1984 government policy, codified in the Law for the Encouragement of Industrial Research and Development, includes various assistance programs that provide qualifying companies in high-tech industries with incentives to avidly undertake R&D activities. By sharing the risks inherent in high-tech research and development projects, the Israeli government hopes to facilitate expansion of its growing technological infrastructure, a main component of the country's economy.
Pharmos discovers, develops, and commercializes novel therapeutics to treat a range of indications, in particular neurological and inflammation- based disorders. The Company's first neuroprotective product is dexanabinol, a tricyclic dextrocannabinoid, currently undergoing clinical testing as a treatment for TBI and as a preventive agent against post-surgical cognitive impairment. Other dextrocannabinoid compounds and CB2-selective receptor agonist compounds from Pharmos' proprietary synthetic cannabinoid library are being studied in pre-clinical programs targeting stroke, pain, multiple sclerosis and other disorders.
Statements made in this press release related to the business outlook and future financial performance of the Company, to the prospective market penetration of its drug products, to the development and commercialization of the Company's pipeline products and to the Company's expectations in connection with any future event, condition, performance or other matter, are forward-looking and are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements involve risks and uncertainties which may cause results to differ materially from those set forth in these statements. Additional economic, competitive, governmental, technological, marketing and other factors identified in Pharmos' filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission could affect such results. |
