The News

Addex Pharmaceuticals Raises CHF20 Million from Biotechnology Value Fund

15/09/2010

Geneva, Switzerland, 15 September 2010 - Allosteric modulation company Addex Pharmaceuticals Ltd (SIX:ADXN) announced today that it raised CHF6 million (US$6 million) through the issuance of 593,567 new registered shares and CHF14 million (US$14 million) through the issuance of zero coupon six-month mandatory convertible notes (MCN) to Biotechnology Value Fund, L.P. and its affiliates (BVF).
 
"We are proud that such a high caliber life science investor has decided to back our proprietary allosteric modulator platform," said Vincent Mutel, CEO of Addex. "This fund raising affords us the means to advance the high value programs in our pipeline, including products for osteoarthritis pain, endometriosis, Alzheimer's disease, diabetes and inflammatory diseases, in addition to our lead product, ADX48621, for Parkinson's dyskinesia"
 
Mark Lampert, the founder of BVF, said, "We feel privileged to become a major shareholder of Addex. The company has built an outstanding research engine that can sustainably generate novel, high value drug candidates. Addex represents a classic value investment and BVF's first major Swiss holding. We look forward to helping Addex realize its potential."
 
"The capital from BVF and the recent award from The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research significantly strengthen our financial position, providing us with the means to deliver a number of significant value inflection points through early 2013, while simultaneously enhancing our proprietary platform," said Tim Dyer, CFO of Addex.
 
The transaction was executed on September 14, 2010, after the close of trading on the SIX Swiss Exchange. The transaction was priced at a 12% premium to the volume weighted average price (VWAP) during the five trading days prior to the announcement, corresponding to a price of CHF10.18 per share. The new issued registered common shares will be listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange and their first day of trading will be September 17, 2010. The new shares, with a par value of CHF 1 each, will be issued from the Company's authorized share capital and will represent 9% of the outstanding share capital after the transaction. The terms of the zero coupon six-month mandatory convertible notes (MCN) comprise a fixed conversion price of CHF 10.18 and will convert into 1,371,069 new shares issued from the Company's conditional capital on 14 March 2011, representing 17% of the outstanding share capital after conversion. The MCN shall bear no interest and will not be listed. The subscription rights of existing shareholders were excluded in accordance with the Addex Articles of Incorporation.
 
Addex announced last week that The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research awarded Addex $900,000 to support a Phase II clinical trial of ADX48621 to treat levodopa-induced dyskinesia in Parkinson's disease patients (PD-LID), which is scheduled to start in the fourth quarter of 2010.
 
Addex Pharmaceuticals discovers and develops allosteric modulators for human health and is focused on validated therapeutic targets for diseases of the central nervous system, metabolic disorders and inflammation. Subject to regulatory approvals, several Phase II clinical trials are expected to start soon for two lead products: ADX48621 and ADX71149. ADX48621 is an mGluR5 negative allosteric modulator (NAM), which will be tested in Parkinson's disease levodopa-induced dyskinesia (PD-LID) and, separately, non-Parkinson's dystonia patients. ADX71149 is an mGluR2 positive allosteric modulator (PAM), which has potential for treatment of schizophrenia, anxiety and other indications. ADX71149 is licensed to Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. Two more products may enter Phase I testing in 2011: ADX71943, a GABA-B receptor PAM with potential for chronic pain; and ADX68692, a follicle stimulating hormone receptor (FSHR) NAM, with potential for endometriosis and benign prostatic hyperplasia. In addition, Merck & Co., Inc. has licensed rights to two preclinical programs: mGluR4 PAM for Parkinson's disease and mGluR5 PAM for schizophrenia. Additional preclinical discovery stage programs include: mGluR2 NAM; GLP1R PAM; IL1R1 NAM; and TNFR1 NAM. Roche Venture Fund and SR-One, corporate venture arm of GlaxoSmithKline, are investors in Addex.
 
Chris Maggos
Investor Relations & Communications
Addex Pharmaceuticals
+41 22 884 15 11
chris.maggos@addexpharma.com
 
 
Disclaimer: The foregoing release may contain forward-looking statements that can be identified by terminology such as "not approvable", "continue", "believes", "believe", "will", "remained open to exploring", "would", "could", or similar expressions, or by express or implied discussions regarding Addex Pharmaceuticals Ltd, its business, the potential approval of its products by regulatory authorities, or regarding potential future revenues from such products. Such forward-looking statements reflect the current views of Addex Pharmaceuticals Ltd regarding future events, future economic performance or prospects, and, by their very nature, involve inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, whether known or unknown, and/or any other factor that may materially differ from the plans, objectives, expectations, estimates and intentions expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. Such may in particular cause actual results with allosteric modulators of mGluR2, mGluR4, mGluR5, mGluR7 or other therapeutic targets to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. There can be no guarantee that allosteric modulators of mGluR2, mGluR4, mGluR5, mGluR7 will be approved for sale in any market or by any regulatory authority. Nor can there be any guarantee that allosteric modulators of mGluR2, mGluR4, mGluR5, mGluR7 or other therapeutic targets will achieve any particular levels of revenue (if any) in the future. In particular, management's expectations regarding  allosteric modulators of mGluR2, mGluR4, mGluR5, mGluR7 or other therapeutic targets could be affected by, among other things, unexpected actions by our partners, unexpected regulatory actions or delays or government regulation generally; unexpected clinical trial results, including unexpected new clinical data and unexpected additional analysis of existing clinical data; competition in general; government, industry and general public pricing pressures; the company's ability to obtain or maintain patent or other proprietary intellectual property protection. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Addex Pharmaceuticals Ltd is providing the information in this press release as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by applicable laws.