UPPSALA, Sweden, Jan. 26, 2004 (PRIMEZONE) -- Ixion Biotechnology Inc., an affiliated company of Q-Med, has decided to license out its oxalate technology to Q-Med.
The agreement means that Q-Med obtains a license for Ixion's oxalate technology. The oxalate technology can be applied, amongst other things, to reduce the number of kidney stones in the treatment of primary and secondary hyperoxaluria, for example.
"With this deal we belive that the future for Ixion's oxalate technology is secured. There are synergies between Q-Med's product DEFLUX and oxalate control, as to a certain extent they are aimed at the same type of customers," says Bengt Agerup, Q-Med's President and CEO.
Development costs for the planned project are estimated to be approximately USD 30 million over a seven year period. Q-Med will lend the amount required for the planned development to Ixion. The loan will be repaid only with the funds that the oxalate technology generates. Q-Med has the right to discontinue the financing at any time during the course of the project.
During this period Q-Med intends to grant sublicenses and to bring in an external partner to partly finance the project.
Queries should be addressed to: Bengt Agerup, President and CEO, Ph:+46(0)70-974 90 25. Fredrik Hallstan, Manager, Investor Relations and Corporate Communications, Ph:+46(0)70-974 90 15.
Note: Q-Med AB operates under the name of Q-Med Scandinavia, Inc. in the USA.
About oxalate control
Oxalate is a substance that is to be found in certain foods, for example coffee, spinach and peanuts. Healthy individuals have a bacterium in the intestine, Oxalobacter formigenes, which breaks down the oxalic acid in food. A lack or not enough of this bacterium leads to too high a level of oxalic acid in the body. Too high a level of oxalic acid leads to a number of diseases, such as chronic kidney stones and primary and enteric hyperoxaluria.
About Ixion Biotechnology
Ixion is a Florida-based research company that develops cell-based therapies aimed at the treatment of metabolic disaeases. The main areas are oxalate control and stem cell research for the treatment of diabetes. In the year 2000 Q-Med acquired a majority holding in Ixion of 54 percent.
Web: http://www.ixionbiotechnology.com
Q-Med is a rapidly growing and profitable biotechnology/medical device company that develops, produces and markets medical implants. All products are based on the company's patented technology for the production of NASHA - Non-Animal Stabilized Hyaluronic Acid. The products RESTYLANE, RESTYLANE Fine Lines and RESTYLANE Perlane are used for the filling out of lips and facial wrinkles and today account for the majority of sales. DUROLANE, Q-Med's product for the treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee joint, has been approved in Europe since May 2001. DEFLUX is a product which has been approved in Europe and the USA for the treatment of vesicoureteral reflux (malformation of the urinary bladder) in children. ZUIDEX for the treatment of stress urinary incontinence in women has been sold in Europe since July 2002. Since July Q-Med today has 480 employees, with approximately 300 at the company's production facility and head office in Uppsala. The Q-Med share was first listed on the O-list of the Stockholm Stock Exchange in December 1999.
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