AMSTERDAM, The Netherlands and PETACH TIKVA, Israel, May 29, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- uniQure N.V. (Nasdaq: QURE ), a leader in human gene therapy, and Medison Pharma Ltd., Israel's leading international healthcare marketing group, today announced an exclusive distribution agreement under which Medison will market Glybera ® , uniQure's gene therapy product for the treatment of lipoprotein lipase deficiency (LPLD), in Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Medison will also be responsible for obtaining regulatory approval for Glybera in both territories. Financial terms of the agreement have not been disclosed. Glybera is approved in the EU as a treatment for LPLD, a potentially life-threatening, orphan metabolic disease that results in patients' inability to process fat in the blood after a meal.
"Glybera represents an exciting opportunity for Medison to continue its leadership in offering new innovative treatments in Israel," stated Meir Jakobsohn, Founder and CEO of Medison.
"After carefully evaluating different commercialization strategies for Glybera in the Israeli market, we have concluded that partnering Glybera allows us to optimize the value of the asset as we continue to develop our pipeline," said Jörn Aldag, Chief Executive Officer. "Medison has a well-established and significant commercial organization in Israel with a proven track record in successfully marketing specialty products. Through this partnership Glybera will be available to LPLD patients in Israel and the Palestinian Authority sooner than otherwise possible. uniQure remains focused on the advance of Glybera toward the initiation of the regulatory process in the USA this year, as well as the further development of our candidate gene therapies currently in the clinic."
About Medison
Medison is Israel's leading marketing group, representing innovative niche healthcare solutions companies such as Biogen Idec, Amgen, Shire and Ipsen. Employing a comprehensive approach to sales and service, Medison supplies and maintains long-standing relations with HMOs (Health Maintenance Organizations), local medical centers and physicians. Backed by three generations of experience in the healthcare industry since 1937, Medison is uniquely qualified to provide the complete spectrum of integrated services for international companies looking to enter or expand their presence in the Israeli and Romanian healthcare markets.
About uniQure
uniQure is delivering on the promise of gene therapy through single treatments with potentially curative results. We have developed a modular platform to rapidly bring new disease-modifying therapies to patients with severe disorders. We are engaged in multiple partnerships and have obtained regulatory approval of our lead product, Glybera, in the European Union for a subset of patients with LPLD. www.uniQure.com
FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This press release contains forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking statements, which are often indicated by terms such as "anticipate," "believe," "could," "estimate," "expect," "goal," "intend," "look forward to", "may," "plan," "potential," "predict," "project," "should," "will," "would" and similar expressions. Forward-looking statements are based on management's beliefs and assumptions and on information available to management only as of the date of this press release. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding the risk of cessation or delay of any of the ongoing or planned clinical studies and/or development of our product candidates, the risk of delay or failure to successfully commercialize or obtain further regulatory approval of Glybera, and the risk that our collaborations with Chiesi or our other collaboration partners will not continue or will not be successful. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements for many reasons, including, without limitation, risks associated with our clinical development activities, regulatory oversight, product commercialization, intellectual property claims, and the risks, uncertainties and other factors described under the heading "Risk Factors" in uniQure's prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission dated February 5, 2014. Given these risks, uncertainties and other factors, you should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, and we assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, even if new information becomes available in the future.
uniQure:
Aicha Diba
Investor Relations
Direct : +31 20 240 6100
Main: +31 20 566 7394
IR@uniQure.com
Media inquiries:
Gretchen Schweitzer
MacDougall Biomedical Communications
Direct: +49 172 861 8540
Main: +1 781 235 3060
gschweitzer@macbiocom.com
Medison Pharma:
Sharon Blum
Goldfiner Communications
4588955-052
sharon@goldfingercom.com
HUG#1789362
