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

To: Icebrg who wrote (3296)	10/1/2002 8:26:22 AM
From: Tim Davies	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10345

why is eln down nearly a buck in the pre market? tim

To: Icebrg who wrote (3296)	10/1/2002 8:47:44 AM
From: Icebrg	Respond to of 10345

Acusphere and Elan Terminate Joint Venture All Intellectual Property and Development Rights Assigned to Acusphere Tuesday October 1, 8:37 am ET WATERTOWN, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 1, 2002--Acusphere, Inc. announced today that it has reached an agreement with Elan Corporation, plc (NYSE:ELN - News) and affiliates, terminating, in a cash-free transaction, their joint venture established in June 2000. This joint venture was formed to develop and commercialize certain pulmonary drug delivery product candidates. The termination of the joint venture is a result of Elan's restructuring efforts and desire to focus on its core businesses in neurology, pain and autoimmune diseases. Under the termination agreement, Acusphere was assigned all intellectual property and development rights to product candidates developed by the joint venture. In exchange for this assignment, Acusphere has agreed to pay Elan a royalty on certain revenues that may be realized by Acusphere in the future on these product candidates. "From the beginning of our joint venture with Elan, we had an extremely productive relationship," said Sherri C. Oberg, Acusphere's President and CEO. "This is demonstrated by the rapid development of our sustained release asthma drug candidate, AI-SR(TM), which entered the clinic in May 2002. The assignment of all joint venture product rights to Acusphere in a cash-free transaction allows us to move ahead and control all decision-making going forward, with respect to future product development and strategic partnering on these products." About Acusphere, Inc. Acusphere is a privately held specialty pharmaceutical company that develops new drugs and improved formulations of existing drugs using its proprietary porous microparticle technology. This technology allows the size and porosity of microparticles to be engineered resulting in versatile drug delivery systems for all routes of administration. This porous microparticle technology is broadly applicable as a pulmonary drug delivery system, as a hydrophobic drug delivery system (HDDS(TM)) and as an intravenous gas delivery system for ultrasound contrast. Acusphere has three porous microparticle product candidates in clinical development: AI-SR(TM), an inhaled sustained release asthma formulation; AI-850(TM), an improved formulation of the cancer drug paclitaxel; and AI-700(TM), an ultrasound contrast agent for the detection of coronary artery disease. AI-SR and AI-850 each entered Phase I clinical trials in May 2002. AI-700 has completed Phase II clinical trials. Acusphere has focused on therapeutic areas where its drug delivery technology has the potential to provide significant clinical benefits. The company is financed by a leading group of venture capital investors including Polaris Venture Partners, Thomas Weisel Capital Partners and BA Venture Partners. For more information about Acusphere visit the company's Web Site at acusphere.com.