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Lipoxen Completes Technology Transfer for Sustained-Release Insulin

14 March 2008

- Lipoxen to receive milestone payment from Intervet -

London, UK, 14th March 2008 - Lipoxen PLC (AIM: LPX) announces today that it has completed the technology transfer of a sustained-release insulin for animal use to Intervet, part of Schering-Plough Corporation. As a result, Lipoxen will receive a milestone payment of €100,000. This payment has been made under Lipoxen's agreement with Intervet, which covers the development of a sustained-release insulin for the global veterinary health market. The agreement also provides for further clinical, regulatory and sales milestone payments to Lipoxen as well as royalties on future product sales.

Lipoxen and Intervet signed their agreement to develop a sustained release insulin product for the veterinary market in September 2007. This sustained-release insulin product is based on Lipoxen's PolyXen® drug delivery technology. This technology has been developed to improve the pharmacokinetic profile of protein drugs, such as insulin, by extending their therapeutic half life, thereby reducing the frequency of administration. PolyXen® is based on linking the therapeutic proteins, or peptides, of interest to the naturally occurring polymer polysialic acid. It improves the stability and the therapeutic half-life of protein drugs and improves their solubility and immunological characteristics, while maintaining biological activity and minimizing toxicity.

Scott Maguire, CEO of Lipoxen, said: "We are delighted that we have achieved this first important milestone in our agreement with Intervet. As part of this four- step technology transfer, we have shown that the sustained-release insulin product, developed based on our PolyXen® technology, works consistently to produce sustained insulin activity in the target animal species".

He added: "The achievement of this Intervet technology transfer milestone with sustained insulin, gives me confidence that we should be able to demonstrate similar benefits in humans. We are currently conducting an exploratory Phase I study with our own human sustained-release insulin, SuliXen, in comparison to Sanofi Aventis' Lantus, which achieved sales in excess of €2bn in 2007, and we expect to report the results of this study in the second quarter of 2008."