XTLbio Announces the Closing of the License and Asset Purchase Agreement With VivoQuest Inc
September 21 2005 - 3:50AM
PR Newswire (US)
Bolsters Anti-HCV Pipeline; Adds Innovative Small Molecule
Chemistry Capabilities REHOVOT, Israel, September 21
/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- XTL Biopharmaceuticals Ltd.
(LSE:XTL)(NASDAQ:XTLB) ("XTLbio") announced today the closing of
the License and Asset Purchase Agreement which was previously
signed with VivoQuest Inc. ("VivoQuest") in August 2005. Following
the closing of these agreements, XTLbio has an exclusive license to
VivoQuest's intellectual property and technology, including
promising HCV compounds and VivoQuest's proprietary compound
library. In connection with the closing, XTLbio made an up-front
payment of approximately $1.4 million, which was satisfied through
the issuance to VivoQuest of approximately 1.3 million XTLbio
ordinary shares. All other amounts to be paid to VivoQuest in
connection with this transaction will be subject to the achievement
of certain milestones relating to successful development and
commercialization of the VivoQuest assets. XTLbio also announced
that members of the VivoQuest's US-based R&D team have joined
XTLbio. The team that joined XTLbio specializes in a breakthrough
small molecule chemistry technology known as Diversity Oriented
Synthesis ("DOS"). The team is lead by internationally recognized
figures in DOS, including the founder of the Chemistry Laboratory
at the Harvard Institute of Chemistry and Cell Biology, where DOS
was originally developed. XTLbio will focus this R&D team on
rapidly advancing the development of anti-HCV compounds licensed
from VivoQuest. These compounds were originally discovered using
DOS technology, and a number of these compounds have already shown
significant activity in preclinical model systems, which is equal
to or greater than the most promising compounds in clinical
development against HCV. XTLbio is also pleased to announce that
two members of VivoQuest's Scientific Advisory Board, Dr. David Ho
and Dr. Charles Rice, have agreed to serve as scientific advisors
to XTLbio. Dr. Ho, a scientific co-founder of VivoQuest, is
Scientific Director and CEO of the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research
Center and is one of the world's foremost experts in the treatment
of viral diseases. Dr. Ho was named Time Magazine's "Man of the
Year" in 1996 for his ground-breaking work in antiviral research.
Dr. Rice is Head of the Laboratory of Virology and Infectious
Diseases at Rockefeller University, and one of the world's
preeminent figures in Hepatitis C research. Ram Waisbourd, VP of
Business Development, who led the XTLbio transaction team,
commented: "We worked very hard to identify and consummate a high
quality HCV opportunity. There is very limited supply of small
molecule HCV portfolios that have multiple families with multiple
compounds with activity against HCV. We are also proud of the deal
structure employed, in which we have minimized the cost and risk to
the XTLbio shareholders by deferring all but the up-front payment
of a little over $1 million until successful milestones are
achieved in the development and commercialization of the VivoQuest
program." Michael Weiss, Chairman of XTLbio, commented: "We are
delighted to bring VivoQuest's world-class chemistry team on board,
and to have Dr. Ho and Dr. Rice join XTLbio as scientific advisors.
With the conclusion of the VivoQuest agreements, XTLbio is well
positioned to aggressively advance VivoQuest's HCV program. This
program has already identified a number of candidates that
pre-clinically compare very favorably with the most promising
anti-HCV compounds in clinical development today." XTLbio will host
an investor conference call today, Wednesday, September 21, 2005,
at 1:00pm UK time (3:00pm Israel time and 8:00am NY time) to
discuss the VivoQuest transaction and provide an update on XTLbio's
other programs. In order to participate in the conference call,
please call 800-895-1549 (if calling from the U.S.) or
+1-785-424-1057 (if calling from outside the U.S.). The call-in ID
is "XTL". The audio recording of the conference call will be
available for replay at http://www.xtlbio.com/, for a period of 15
days after the call. Contacts: XTLbio Jonathan Burgin Chief
Financial Officer Tel: +972-8-930-4440 About XTL Biopharmaceuticals
Ltd. XTL Biopharmaceuticals Ltd. (XTLbio) is a biopharmaceutical
company developing drugs against hepatitis. Established in 1993,
XTLbio became a public company in 2000 and its ordinary shares are
listed on the Official List of the UK Listing Authority and are
traded on the London Stock Exchange under the symbol XTL, on the
Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, Israel and on NASDAQ under the symbol
XTLB. Cautionary Statement Some of the statements included in this
press release may be forward-looking statements that involve a
number of risks and uncertainties. For those statements, we claim
the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements
contained in the US Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of
1995. Among the factors that could cause our actual results to
differ materially, and therefore affect interest by investors in
our ADR's, are the following: (1) preliminary results of
pre-clinical tests on the HCV compounds and proprietary compound
library licensed from VivoQuest do not necessarily predict the
final results, and promising results in pre-clinical or early
clinical testing might not be obtained in later clinical trials;
(2) the early activity of DOS technology in preclinical model
systems does not necessarily predict the final results, and the DOS
technology may not continue to obtain results equal or greater than
the most promising compounds in clinical development against HCV;
and (3) other risk factors identified from time to time in our
reports filed with the various regulatory bodies. Any
forward-looking statements set forth in this press release speak
only as of the date of this press release. We do not intend to
update any of these forward-looking statements to reflect events or
circumstances that occur after the date hereof. This press release
and prior releases are available at http://www.xtlbio.com/. The
information in our website is not incorporated by reference into
this press release and is included as an inactive textual reference
only. DATASOURCE: XTL Biopharmaceuticals Ltd. CONTACT: XTLbio,
Jonathan Burgin, Chief Financial Officer, Tel: +972-8-930-4440
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