Press Release.
London, 13 July 2007: Speciality European Pharma Ltd (SEP), London, UK, today announced that it has obtained distribution rights to Amphocil® for Germany, France and Italy. Amphocil®, a product owned by Three Rivers Pharmaceutical LLC (Pennsylvania, USA), is presently marketed in a number of countries, including the USA, UK, Sweden, Austria and Portugal. Amphocil® is already approved in Italy and registrations for Germany and France will be initiated later this year.
Amphocil® (amphotericin B cholesteryl sulfate complex for injection) is a lipid form of amphotericin B used for the treatment of life threatening systemic fungal infections such as invasive aspergillosis. These severe fungal infections occur primarily in patients with suppressed or compromised immune systems due to disease or medication.
Commenting on this agreement, Geoff McMillan, Chief Executive of SEP said:
“This agreement provides us with a further regulatory stage product in one of our focus areas, critical care. It again demonstrates our ability to secure rights to late stage specialist products for the European market and follows the Company’s recent acquisitions of the approved products, Plenaxis and Haemopressin. We are delighted to be working with Three Rivers Pharmaceuticals and its European partner company Nespera Ltd towards the successful registration and marketing of this product in these key European countries.”
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About Speciality European Pharma Limited:
The company was founded in April 2006 with the mission of identifying and acquiring specialist pharmaceutical products for the European market and is backed by Advent Venture Partners. In February 2007 the company completed the acquisition of two products, Haemopressin and Plenaxis®, both of which are approved in certain European markets, and Amphocil is now the third approved product for which SEP has secured certain distribution rights.
About Advent Venture Partners:
Advent Ventures is one of the most experienced technology venture capital firms in the UK. Established in 1981 it invests in both the Life Science and Information and Communications Technology sectors. Advent Ventures has over £500 million (US$ 900m) under management from institutional investors across Europe and the USA. It has backed around 60 life science companies of which, to date, 19 have obtained public listings and a further 9 companies have been sold, including PowderMed (to Pfizer) and KuDOS Pharmaceuticals (to AstraZeneca).
Recent investments by the Advent Life Sciences team include Norwegian radiopharmaceuticals company Algeta; Dutch gene-medicine company Amsterdam Molecular Therapeutics; the US medical device company NeoGuide, UK-based Thiakis, which develops hormone-based treatments for obesity; and the Swiss therapeutic antibody company 4-Antibody.
Contact details:
Geoff McMillan, CEO
Speciality European Pharma Ltd
Suite 106, The Spirella Building, Bridge Road, Letchworth Garden City, Hertfordshire SG6 4ET, UK
Tel: +44 (0)1462 476516
Email: geoff.mcmillan@spepharma.com
