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Biotech / Medical : Elan Corporation, plc (ELN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: scaram(o)uche who wrote (1636)	2/12/2002 1:16:37 PM
From: scaram(o)uche	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10345

emphasis mine, again relating to this single JV....... INEX PHARMACEUTICALS’ SPIN-OFF PROTIVA BIOTHERAPEUTICS SIGNS $14.5 MILLION EQUITY FINANCING AGREEMENT For immediate release: Sep 06, 2001 VANCOUVER, B.C. – Inex Pharmaceuticals Corp. (TSE:"IEX") and Protiva Biotherapeutics Inc. announced today that Protiva has signed a $14.5 million equity financing agreement with leading venture capitalists and other private investors allowing Protiva to pursue its business objective of developing and commercializing novel drugs based on gene-delivered therapeutic proteins to fight cancer and inflammatory diseases. The financing will be completed in two tranches. The first tranche, representing 60% of the financing, has been completed. The closing of the second tranche is dependent on the completion of certain milestones. David Main, INEX’s President and CEO, said the success of the private financing is strong validation for the company and its prospects. “Some of the most experienced biotech investors in Canada have evaluated Protiva’s management and technology and are participating in this financing during difficult market conditions,” Main said. “Protiva is moving aggressively using its own financial resources to establish a leadership position in the rapidly growing marketplace for therapeutic proteins, while allowing INEX to dedicate its resources to our primary business - progressing our advanced-stage cancer drug candidates through clinical trials to marketing approval.” Mark J. Murray, Ph.D, Protiva’s President and CEO, said the company’s major near term objective is to advance its technology into human clinical trials. “This financing will enable us to advance the work we have initiated on developing a robust and scalable manufacturing process which yields a consistent product, as well as completing ongoing preclinical studies that support the start of clinical trials,” Murray said. Murray said proof-of-principle of Protiva's targeted gene delivery technology, called SPLP (for stable plasmid-lipid particle), has been established in several animal models. These studies have demonstrated that anticancer gene drugs packaged in Protiva’s proprietary delivery technology and administered intravenously can express therapeutic proteins and reduce the size of tumors at distal disease sites. Gene-based drugs are normally rapidly degraded in the bloodstream making intravenous administration a major barrier to their use. Protiva's SPLP technology overcomes this barrier. Protiva's objective is to develop a unique class of therapeutic products to treat cancer and inflammatory diseases and be the industry leader in systemically available gene-delivery technology. Protiva was founded in January 2001 when INEX transferred all assets relating to its proprietary gene delivery technology into Protiva, and recruited an experienced and separate management team who secured initial seed capital. With the completion of the first tranche of financing, INEX’s position in Protiva declines from approximately 75% to approximately 40% and will decline to approximately 35% after the second tranche is completed. The venture financing was structured and led by MDS Capital, and other funds participating include Working Opportunity Fund, GrowthWorks Access Fund, Business Development Bank of Canada, Kinetic Capital Limited Partnership, Bio FutureFund and Qwest Emerging Biotech. Protiva will be targeting the protein therapeutics market that currently exceeds $17 billion including $3.5 billion in the areas of cancer and inflammation. Protiva will capitalize on the gene delivery of protein therapeutics currently not amenable to intravenous administration because of poor pharmacokinetics, toxic side effects or intracellular delivery requirements. INEX is a Canadian biopharmaceutical company that utilizes novel therapeutic compounds and proprietary drug delivery systems to commercialize improved therapies for the treatment of cancer. INEX’s product pipeline is comprised of product candidates from two platform technologies – targeted chemotherapy and novel oncology compounds, called oligonucleotides. The company’s lead product, Onco TCS, is a targeted chemotherapeutic that is in a pivotal Phase II/III clinical trial as a treatment for relapsed aggressive non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. The trial is expected to provide sufficient data to seek marketing approval, with a regulatory filing in late 2002 or early 2003. INEX contact: Ian Mortimer Senior Manager, Investor Relations Inex Pharmaceuticals Corp. Tel: 604-419-3200 Email: info@inexpharm.com Website: www.inexpharm.com Protiva Contact: Mark Murray, Ph.D President and CEO Protiva Biotherapeutics Inc. Tel: 604-419-3250 Email: info@protivabio.com Website: www.protivabio.com Media contact: Karen Cook Boas or Maria Loscerbo James Hoggan & Associates Inc. Tel: 604-739-7500 Email: kcook@hoggan.com mloscerbo@hoggan.com INEX’s common shares are traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the trading symbol “IEX”.