BASEL, Switzerland, April 13, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- In his presentation to shareholders yesterday, Anthony Man, MD, Basilea's CEO, commented on the 2004 business year:
"The focus of Basilea over the last year has been to maximize the value of our development compounds through solid operational excellence and continued achievement of milestones, a consistent feature of Basilea since its inception."
R&D investments resulted in the achievement of the following major clinical milestones in all development programs:
-- Successful completion of phase II and start of phase III
clinical program for Basilea's novel hospital antibiotic,
ceftobiprole (BAL5788)
-- Successful completion of phase I and start of phase II
clinical trials for Basilea's novel antifungal (BAL8557)
-- Start of the alitretinoin (BAL4079) phase III program in
severe chronic hand dermatitis
-- Securing of a major partnership with Johnson & Johnson's
affiliate Cilag AG to develop and commercialize ceftobiprole
At today's Ordinary General Meeting, shareholders voted, inter alia, in favour of the extension of the term to exercise up to 540,000 authorized shares through April 12, 2007 for strategic purposes including, among others, licensing and product acquisitions. In addition, shareholders voted to reduce the shares required to include an item on the agenda of a shareholders' meeting, from a minimum nominal value of CHF 1 million to CHF 100,000. Shareholders approved the re-election of Dr. Anthony Man (CEO) and Mr. Ronald Scott (CFO) as Board members for a term of three years. The shareholders also approved the annual report, including the financial statements and consolidated financial statements 2004 of the Group; the release of the members of the Board of Directors and of the management and to carry forward the accumulated loss. PricewaterhouseCoopers AG, Basel, was re-elected as Auditor and Group Auditor for the financial year 2005.
The Ordinary General Meeting of Shareholders 2005 of Basilea Pharmaceutica AG was attended by shareholders who represented 5,745,690 votes or 77.78% of the total share capital of the Company.
About Basilea
Basilea Pharmaceutica AG (BSLN) is an independent biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, and listed on the SWX Swiss Exchange. Basilea was founded in October 2000 to discover, develop and bring innovative medicines to the market. The company's fully integrated research and development operations are currently focused on new anti-bacterial and anti-fungal agents to fight drug resistance as well as on dermatology drugs. In the recent months, Basilea announced major company milestones including the entry of ceftobiprole (BAL5788) into phase III in complicated skin and skin structure infections and hospital acquired pneumonia; the entry of alitretinoin (BAL4079) for severe chronic hand dermatitis into phase III; the entry of BAL8557 in severe fungal infections into phase II; the advancement of a novel topical antibiotic for acne into preclinical testing; and an alliance with Johnson & Johnson's affiliated company, Cilag AG International, to globally develop and commercialize ceftobiprole.
Disclaimer
This communication expressly or implicitly contains certain forward-looking statements concerning Basilea Pharmaceutica AG and its business. Such statements involve certain known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which could cause the actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements of Basilea Pharmaceutica AG to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Basilea Pharmaceutica AG is providing this communication as of this date and does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements contained herein as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
Basilea Pharmaceutica AG Corporate Information P.O. Box CH-4005 Basel Switzerland
The press release can be downloaded from the following link: http://hugin.info/134390/R/988941/148277.pdf