Basilea participates in public-private collaboration to tackle antibiotic resistance

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BASEL, SWITZERLAND -- (Marketwire) -- 05/25/12 --Basilea Pharmaceutica AG /Basilea participates in public-private collaboration to tackle antibioticresistance. Processed and transmitted by Thomson Reuters ONE.The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. welcomes thelaunch in Europe of a pioneering approach to antibiotic research that willseepharmaceutical and biotechnology companies working alongside publicpartners totackle the rising threat from antimicrobial resistance and address some ofthekey barriers to the development of effective antibiotics.

The objective of the proposed research program, NewDrugs4BadBugs, is toimprovethe underlying scientific understanding of antibiotic resistance, designandimplement efficient clinical trials and take novel drug candidates throughclinical development. The program is part of the European Commission'sActionPlan against the rising threats from Antimicrobial Resistance, launched inNovember last year.

Supported by the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI), the world's largestpublic-private partnership in health care, the program's first projectswill befunded by a joint budget of up to EUR 223.7 million - EUR 109 millionprovidedby IMI and EUR 114.7 million in kind contributions from the pharmaceuticalandbiotechnology companies involved.

Basilea, GlaxoSmithKline, AstraZeneca, Janssen and Sanofi will workalongsidepublic research organizations and scientific experts to address severalaspectsof antimicrobial resistance and stimulate new antibiotic research. Furtherprojects within the program, with additional funding, are expected tolaunchlater in the year.

Basilea's Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Laurenz Kellenberger, stated:"Antibiotic R&D is at an important turning point. We have joined thiscollaboration because of our strong belief in its significant value to allstakeholders concerned with fighting antimicrobial drug resistance. Themutualscientific and financial advantages of the initiative will contribute toincreasing the chances of finding new effective antimicrobial drugs.Togetherwith ongoing positive developments in the regulatory and legislative areaswesee the environment becoming even more attractive and rewarding for smallcompany innovators."

Antibiotic resistance is increasingly becoming a worldwide health threat.Manyof the medical advances in recent years, such as chemotherapy for cancertreatment and organ transplantation, depend on effective antibiotics.Despitethis need and the continued emergence of bacteria resistant to existingdrugs,research has diminished over the past 15 years and few companies remainactivein this area. This is due to the scientific difficulties in finding newagentsthat successfully target bacteria, regulatory complexities and insufficientcommercial incentives needed to encourage investment in this area and tofundfuture R&D.

The proposed research program will initially focus on three key areas:progressing development of pipeline antibiotics and improving the design offuture clinical trials; information sharing across the wider antibioticresearchcommunity to improve the chances of success in developing the nextgeneration ofantibiotics; and continuing research and discovery of new antibiotics,specifically finding new approaches to the design of antibiotics effectiveagainst Gram-negative bacteria.

Key to the success of NewDrugs4BadBugs will be the involvement of multiplepublic partners from across Europe. Public institutions and researchorganizations, clinical investigators and scientific experts are beingencouraged to learn more about the proposed research program through aseries ofevents. Full details can be found at www.imi.europa.eu.

About Basilea

Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, andlisted onthe SIX Swiss Exchange (SIX: BSLN). Through its fully integrated researchanddevelopment operations the company focuses on innovative pharmaceuticalproductsin the therapeutic areas of bacterial infections, fungal infections,oncologyand skin diseases, targeting the medical challenge of rising resistance andnon-response to current treatment options in the hospital and specialtycaresetting.

Basilea's portfolio of investigational anti-infectives includesceftobiprole,isavuconazole and BAL30072.

Ceftobiprole is a novel broad-spectrum anti-MRSA cephalosporin antibioticforthe potential first-line empiric treatment of severe multi-drug resistantbacterial infections. Available data demonstrate activity against a widerangeof clinically-relevant Gram-positive as well as Gram-negative bacteriaincludingPseudomonas, highlighting the potential of ceftobiprole for the earlytreatmentof severe infections such as pneumonia treated in the hospital.

Isavuconazole is a novel broad-spectrum antifungal with the potential tobecomethe best-in-class azole for the treatment of severe invasive fungalinfections.It has excellent in-vitro and in-vivo coverage of a broad range of yeasts(suchas Candida species) and molds (such as Aspergillus species) as well as lesscommon but clinically important molds such as Zygomycetes spp.

BAL30072 is a novel sulfactam antibiotic specifically targetingmultidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria. In in-vitro and in-vivo modelsit demonstratedpotent bactericidal activity against a broad range of multidrug-resistantGram-negative pathogens such as Pseudomonas or Acinetobacter species. Itovercomesbacterial resistance by several mechanisms and has enhanced stabilityagainstbacterial beta-lactamase enzymes, such as extended-spectrum beta-lactamases(ESBLs), carbapenemases and the recently characterized New Delhimetallo-beta-lactamase 1 (NDM-1), which cause resistance against manycurrently marketedantibiotics. The activity of BAL30072 is further enhanced when combinedwithpenem-class antibiotics.

About the Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI)

The Innovative Medicines Initiative Joint Undertaking (IMI JU) is a uniquepan-European public private partnership between the European Commission andEFPIA(European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations). Theaim ofIMI is to propose a coordinated approach to overcome identified researchbottlenecks in the drug development process, in order to accelerate thedevelopment of safe and more effective medicines for patients, by fosteringcollaboration between all stakeholders such as industry, public authorities(including regulators), organizations of patients, academia and clinicalcenters, and enhancing Europe's competitiveness. Further information can befound at www.imi.europa.eu.

Disclaimer

This communication expressly or implicitly contains certain forward-lookingstatements concerning Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. and its business. Suchstatements involve certain known and unknown risks, uncertainties and otherfactors, which could cause the actual results, financial condition,performanceor achievements of Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. to be materially differentfromany future, anticipated results, performance or achievements expressed orimplied by such forward-looking statements. Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. isproviding this communication as of this date and does not undertake toupdateany forward-looking statements contained herein as a result of newinformation,future events or otherwise.

This press release can be downloaded from www.basilea.com.

Press release (PDF):http://hugin.info/134390/R/1614822/514626.pdf

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Source: Basilea Pharmaceutica AG via Thomson Reuters ONE[HUG#1614822]

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Source: Basilea Pharmaceutica AG