PHILADELPHIA, Aug. 24, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hemispherx Biopharma, Inc. (AMEX:HEB) today announced that, as result of court mediation proceedings, it has entered into a written agreement in principle with the Court-appointed lead plaintiffs to settle all of the currently pending securities class actions consolidated in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The proposed settlement requires formal court approval. The class actions have been stayed by the Court pending those mandatory procedures needed to formalize and approve the settlement. The settlement will be paid from the company's insurance coverage and will not result in the payment of any funds by the Company. Furthermore, the settlement expressly is not an admission of any culpability by Hemispherx or its officers. Thomas K. Equels, General Counsel, stated: "We at Hemispherx look forward to Court approval of this settlement. Our team will be glad to have these class actions behind us so that we can focus our time and resources on the important work of new drug development related to Ampligen® for CFS, important flu related clinical trials, and the manufacturing and marketing of our FDA approved anti-viral Alferon®."
About Hemispherx Biopharma
Hemispherx Biopharma, Inc. is an advanced specialty pharmaceutical company engaged in the clinical development of new drug entities for treatment of seriously debilitating disorders. Hemispherx's flagship products include Alferon N Injection™ (FDA approved for a category of sexually transmitted diseases) and the experimental therapeutics Ampligen® and Alferon LDO™. Ampligen® represents experimental nucleic acids being developed for globally important debilitating diseases and disorders of the immune system. Hemispherx's platform technology includes agents for potential treatment of various severely debilitating and life threatening diseases. Hemispherx has an extensive number of patents comprising its core intellectual property estate and a fully commercialized product (Alferon N Injection™). The Company wholly owns and exclusively operates a GMP certified manufacturing facility in the United States. For more information please visit http://www.hemispherx.net/">www.hemispherx.net
Information contained in this news release, other than historical information, should be considered forward-looking and is subject to various risk factors and uncertainties. For instance, the strategies and operations of Hemispherx involve risk of competition, changing market conditions, change in laws and regulations affecting these industries and numerous other factors discussed in this release and in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Any specifically referenced investigational drugs and associated technologies of the Company (including Ampligen® and Alferon® LDO) are experimental in nature and as such are not designated safe and effective by a regulatory authority for general use and are legally available only through clinical trials with the referenced disorders. The forward-looking statements represent the Company's judgment as of the date of this release. The Company disclaims, however, any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements. The planning, completion, results or submission of clinical trials do not imply that any study product will ever be approved commercially for the studied or other treatment indications.