Procyon BioPharma Inc.: Annual General and
Special Meeting - Advances in Financing, Product
Development and Partnerships
10:56 GMT-05:00 Thursday, November 16, 2000
MONTREAL, QUEBEC--Procyon BioPharma Inc. held its annual general and
special shareholders' meeting today in Montreal for the year ended June 30, 2000.
Mr. Hans J. Mader, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, provided
details of the significant advances made by the Company over the past year.
"This year has marked an important new direction for Procyon in its development.
Our move to Montreal early in the year, has been the key to our progress on a
number of strategic fronts," said Hans J. Mader. "Fiscal 2000 has been a good year
on all fronts including partnerships and alliances, important advances in research and
development and for the establishment of a solid financial base."
Partnership Highlights
This year, Procyon finalized several important partnerships and agreements for
commercialization of its product portfolio. Early in the year, Procyon announced an
out-licensing agreement with Biovail for FIBROSTAT(TM), the Company's
late-stage topical cream for the management of severe scars or burns. The agreement
involves milestone payments by Biovail to Procyon of $2.5 million in total for the
Canadian licensing rights, in addition to future double-digit royalties on sales, while
also granting Biovail the first right of negotiations for the marketing of
FIBROSTAT(TM) in the U.S.
Following the close of the year, Procyon also concluded a definitive agreement with
Biovation Ltd. (which recently became a member of the Merck KGA group) for the
development of DeImmunized ANA therapeutic monoclonal antibodies which
Procyon has been developing, with the lead therapeutic candidate designated as 2C5.
The collaboration with Biovation will accelerate the development of the ANA
technology resulting in an IND to conduct human clinical trials late in 2001.
Procyon also recently concluded a Memorandum of Understanding with the
University of Toronto for the purchase of the technology and patents for one of its
near-term product candidates, COLOPATH(TM), Procyon's rapid, non-invasive
screening test for colorectal cancer. The purchase of the underlying technology for
COLOPATH(TM) will allow Procyon to determine the partner with whom the
product can most effectively be developed. Prior to this purchase, Procyon had
licensed the technology from the inventors via the University of Toronto.
Research and Development Highlights
Procyon has made important advances in research and development as well as in its
intellectual property portfolio. Procyon published a study in The Prostate Journal, in
June indicating that its core technology, PSP(94), could be an effective prognostic
test to improve the medical community's ability to monitor and predict the speed with
which prostate cancer progresses in patients.
At the Canadian Conference on Colon Cancer, hosted by the McGill University
Cancer Center in May, COLOPATH(TM), was reported to have encouraging
results indicating sensitivity to cancer in the order of 88%.
In March of this year, Procyon was granted a broad European patent for license of
PSP(94), with claims relating to the treatment of prostate, breast and gastric cancers.
In September, Procyon was issued a U.S. patent for the diagnostic/prognostic
applications of PSP(94) based assay for prostate cancer. For its late-stage product,
COLOPATH(TM), Procyon also received additional patent protection from the
European and U.S. Patent Office. In September, Procyon was granted a patent for
FIBROSTAT(TM) in Canada. Patents have already been granted for this product
candidate in the United States, Australia and Japan, with a patent pending in Europe.
Corporate Highlights
On August 1, 2000, Procyon was approved for listing on the TSE with the ticker
symbol PBP. During the year Procyon raised a total of $23.4 million in several
rounds of financing. In a two-tranche private placement with T2C2 and the SociAtA
Innovatech du Grand MontrAal, Procyon generated $3 million in November last
year. In April of 2000, a private placement of $20.4 million with Research Capital
Corporation, gave Procyon a solid financial base for operations over the next 30
months.
Board Management Changes
At the annual meeting, Procyon also announced the departure of four of its Board
members, Mr. Ron McMahan, Mr. James Youmans, Mr. William McDonald and
Mr. Charles B. Johnston. Mr. Mader thanked them for their excellent contributions to
the Company during their tenure. Additions to the Board include Dr. Bernard
Coupal, President of T2C2, representing the SociAtA Innovatech du Grand
MontrAal and Mr. Hans Fluehler, Chief Executive Officer of the Canfhel Group.
At the management level there have been a number of important additions. Dr.
Naveen Anand assumed the role of Vice-President, Business Development and
Licensing in December. Mr. Edward M. Yeats, formerly the Director of Finance,
Controller and Assistant Secretary and Human Resources Manager, became Vice
President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer. In addition, Dr. Christopher E.
Newman was recently appointed Vice-President Research and Development and
Chief Scientific Officer and most recently, Procyon appointed Mr. Bruno Barrette to
the position of Vice President, Legal Affairs, General Counsel and Secretary.
Procyon BioPharma Inc. is a publicly listed, biopharmaceutical Company focused
principally on advancing two powerful platform technologies that have the potential to
diagnose and treat cancer. Procyon's non-pathogenic Antinuclear Autoantibodies
(ANAs) bind specifically to multiple cancer cell types strongly enhancing the immune
response to cancer cells. Prostate Secretory Protein (PSP(94)) is a naturally
occurring human protein that has the potential to treat prostate cancer by inhibiting
abnormal prostate cell growth. In addition, the estimation of PSP(94) levels in
prostate cancer patients may have prognostic and diagnostic applications. Procyon
also has two late-stage products: FIBROSTAT(TM), a topical cream for the
management of newly formed scars following surgery or burns and
COLOPATH(TM), a rapid, non-invasive screening test for colorectal cancer.
Procyon's shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol,
PBP. |
