psinutria business sold to intrinsiq

ASX/Media RELEASE 21 January 2008
pSiNutria Business sold to Intrinsiq
Boston, MA and Perth, Australia (January 21, 2008) – pSivida Limited (NASDAQ: PSDV, ASX:
PSD, FF: PSI), a global drug delivery company, and Intrinsiq Materials Cayman Limited today
announced that the assets of pSiNutria Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of pSivida, have
been sold to Intrinsiq, a UK based venture capital company funded by QinetiQ and headed by a
former pSivida Non-executive Director, Mr Stephen Lake.
pSiNutria was established in December 2005 to develop applications of the Company’s
BioSiliconTM technology for the food industry.
Terms of the agreements include:
• pSivida has sold and licensed intellectual property and other assets concerned with
nutraceuticals and food science applications of BioSiliconTM to Intrinsiq.
• Intrinsiq is obligated to make a series of payments totaling US$1.23m in the first year
following this closing of this transaction.
• Provided the license is in place, Intrinsiq is obligated to pay royalties with minimum
royalty payments of US$3.95m over approximately the next 6 years, $500k of which
would be payable 18 months after the closing.
• pSivida retains all rights outside the food science arena.
“We believe this asset sale will advance the BioSiliconTM food program whilst further reducing
our burn rate,” said Dr Paul Ashton, Managing Director of pSivida Limited. “Following the sale
last year of our subsidiary AION Diagnostics, the Company continues to focus operations on
our core technologies – drug delivery and oncology”.
-ENDSReleased
by:
pSivida Limited
Brian Leedman
Vice President, Investor Relations
pSivida Limited
Tel: +61 8 9226 5099
[email protected]
US Public Relations
Beverly Jedynak
President
Martin E. Janis & Company, Inc
Tel: +1 (312) 943 1100 ext. 12
[email protected]
European Public Relations
Eva Reuter
Accent Marketing Limited
Tel: +49 (254) 393 0740
[email protected]
NOTES TO EDITORS:
pSivida is a global drug delivery company committed to the biomedical sector and the development of drug
delivery products. Retisert® is FDA approved for the treatment of uveitis. Vitrasert® is FDA approved for the
treatment of AIDS-related CMV Retinitis. Bausch & Lomb owns the trademarks Vitrasert® and Retisert®.
pSivida has licensed the technologies underlying both of these products to Bausch & Lomb. The technology
underlying Medidur™ for diabetic macular edema is licensed to Alimera Sciences and is in Phase III clinical
trials. pSivida has a worldwide collaborative research and license agreement with Pfizer Inc. for other
ophthalmic applications of the Medidur™ technology.
pSivida owns the rights to develop and commercialize a modified form of silicon (porosified or nano-structured
silicon) known as BioSilicon™, which has applications in drug delivery, wound healing, orthopedics, and tissue
engineering. The most advanced BioSilicon™ product, BrachySil™ delivers a therapeutic, P32 directly to solid
tumors and is presently in Phase II clinical trials for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.
pSivida’s intellectual property portfolio consists of 70 patent families, 99 granted patents, including patents
accepted for issuance, and over 300 patent applications. pSivida conducts its operations from facilities near
Boston in the United States, Malvern in the United Kingdom and Perth in Australia.
pSivida is listed on NASDAQ (PSDV), the Australian Stock Exchange (PSD) and on the Frankfurt Stock
Exchange on the XETRA system (PSI). pSivida is a founding member of the NASDAQ Health Care Index and
the Merrill Lynch Nanotechnology Index.
Various statements made in this release are forward-looking and involve a number of risks and
uncertainties. All statements that address activities, events or developments that we intend, expect or
believe may occur in the future are forward-looking statements. The following are some of the factors
that could cause actual results to differ materially from the forward-looking statements: the risks that we
will not be able to raise additional capital; that we will continue to incur losses and may never become
profitable; that we will be required to pay penalties pursuant to registration agreements with securities
holders and not have sufficient funds to do so; that we will be unable to develop new products; that we
will be unable to protect our own intellectual property or will infringe on others’ intellectual property; that
we will not receive regulatory approvals necessary to commercialize products; that we will be unable to
secure partners necessary to develop and market products; that our current licensees will terminate their
agreements with us; that our competitors’ products will receive regulatory approval before, reach the
market before, or otherwise receive better market acceptance than, our product candidates; that our
international business operations will result in increased costs or delays; that manufacturing problems
will delay product development and commercialization; that third-party reimbursement and health care
providers will not cover the costs of our products; that we will fail to retain some or all of our key
personnel; we will be subject to product liability suits and not have sufficient insurance to cover damages;
that we will fail to effectively manage changes in our business; that we will fail to comply with
environmental laws and regulations; that we will fail to achieve and maintain effective internal control
over financial reporting; that amortization or impairment of other intangibles will adversely affect our
operating results; that our being headquartered outside of the United States will make it difficult to effect
legal services against us or our management, lead to adverse shareholder tax consequences, or
otherwise limit shareholder rights; that we will be delisted from the ASX or NASDAQ; that our expectation
to not pay cash dividends will decrease our stock price; that exercise of outstanding warrants and stock
options will dilute ownership and reduce stock price; that future stock issuances could dilute ownership,
restrict operations, encumber assets, or otherwise cause a decline in stock price; and the risk that Pfizer
will influence our business in non-beneficial ways; and other factors that may be described in our filings
with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Given these uncertainties, readers are cautioned not to
place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. We do not undertake to publicly update or
revise our forward-looking statements even if experience or future changes make it clear that any
projected results expressed or implied in such statements will not be realized.