Protherics PLC announces AstraZeneca GBP10m Milestone
London, UK; Brentwood, TN, US; 12 March 2007 - Protherics PLC ("Protherics" or the "Company"), the international biopharmaceutical company focused on critical care and cancer, today announces that a GBP10 million milestone payment from AstraZeneca has been triggered as a result of the successful scale-up of the CytoFabTM manufacturing process to a 600 litre batch size. This milestone will be included in the Company's results for the financial year ending 31 March 2007 and is expected to be received in April.
On receipt of this manufacturing related milestone, Protherics will have received a total of GBP26.3 million in milestone payments from AstraZeneca since the deal was signed in December 2005. Under the licensing agreement, Protherics may receive up to a further GBP161 million in milestone payments, in addition to a 20% royalty on global net product sales of CytoFabTM.
Andrew Heath, Chief Executive of Protherics commented:
"Scaling-up the CytoFab manufacturing process has been a major focus for Protherics since signing the deal with AstraZeneca in December 2005. We are extremely pleased to have met this key milestone and are excited about the prospect of AstraZeneca continuing the clinical development of CytoFab."
John Rex, Vice-President, Medical Director for Infection, AstraZeneca, said:
"We are delighted with the progress that has been made with CytoFab to date, and we are all looking forward to starting the expanded phase 2 programme with CytoFab in the second half of this year as planned." |
