MONTREAL, June 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- ProMetic Life Sciences Inc. (TSX:PLI) ("ProMetic") announced today that it has further confirmed the efficacy of the prion capture resins developed by Pathogen Removal and Diagnostic Technologies Inc. ("PRDT")' in the removal of prions from different solutions, including mixtures of proteins containing high concentrations of specific proteins such as 25% albumin and 3% immunoglobulin solutions without affecting the concentration of the proteins. Plasma-derived albumin and immunoglobulin proteins are commonly used as therapeutics. Furthermore, proteins such as albumin are also regularly used as non-active stabilizing ingredients in the formulation of biopharmaceutical products.
"This has far reaching implications for the biopharmaceutical industry. It offers the opportunity to provide an additional safety element by including prion-depleted human blood-derived or animal-derived products in the formulation and manufacture of some of these high-value therapeutics," stated Mr. Pierre Laurin, ProMetic's President and Chief Executive Officer.
In addition, the evaluation of PRDT resins established their ability to efficiently remove infectious prion protein from whole human plasma, a complex mixture of hundreds of different proteins, and demonstrated that the ligands developed by PRDT targets the prion protein, and can bind that compound even under the competition of several proteins, without significantly binding any of the proteins vital for plasma.
This corroboration of the PRDT resins' performance follows on the June 10th announcement of Octopharma AG's recent implementation of PRDT's prion removal resin into their manufacturing process of Octaplas(R). For additional information on this announcement, please visit ProMetic's Newsroom at http://www.prometic.com/en/news.htm.
Dr. Patrick Gurgel, ProMetic's Senior Research Scientist addressed the information on the PRDT resins in a poster titled "Removal of prion infectivity from plasma-derived products" during the Recovery of Biological Products 13 Conference held in Quebec City, Quebec from June 22 - 27, 2008. The poster is available on ProMetic's website at http://www.prometic.com/en/scientific_information.htm .
About Pathogen Removal and Diagnostic Technologies Inc.
Pathogen Removal and Diagnostic Technologies Inc. ("PRDT") is a joint venture established in April 2002 by The American Red Cross and ProMetic Life Sciences Inc., and allows for the exchange of technology and knowledge between the two organizations. PRDT's main goal is to develop products and devices to remove and detect different pathogens from biological sources. This research augments work that ProMetic, the American Red Cross and PRDT's scientific founders have been conducting independently for many years.
About ProMetic Life Sciences Inc.
ProMetic Life Sciences Inc. (http://www.prometic.com/) is a biopharmaceutical company specialized in the research, development, manufacture and marketing of a variety of commercial applications derived from its proprietary Mimetic Ligand(TM) technology. This technology is used in large-scale purification of biologics and the elimination of pathogens. ProMetic is also active in therapeutic drug development with the mission to bring to market effective, innovative, lower cost, less toxic products for the treatment of hematology and cancer. Its drug discovery platform is focused on replacing complex, expensive proteins with synthetic "drug-like" protein mimetics. Headquartered in Montreal (Canada), ProMetic has R&D facilities in the U.K., the U.S. and Canada, manufacturing facilities in the U.K. and business development activities in the U.S., Europe, Asia and in the Middle-East.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements about ProMetic's objectives, strategies and businesses that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements are "forward-looking" because they are based on our current expectations about the markets we operate in and on various estimates and assumptions. Actual events or results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements if known or unknown risks affect our business, or if our estimates or assumptions turn out to be inaccurate. Such risks and assumptions include, but are not limited to, ProMetic's ability to develop, manufacture, and successfully commercialize value-added pharmaceutical products, the availability of funds and resources to pursue R&D projects, the successful and timely completion of clinical studies, the ability of ProMetic to take advantage of business opportunities in the pharmaceutical industry, uncertainties related to the regulatory process and general changes in economic conditions. You will find a more detailed assessment of the risks that could cause actual events or results to materially differ from our current expectations on page 21 of ProMetic's Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2007, under the heading "Risk Factors". As a result, we cannot guarantee that any forward-looking statement will materialize. We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statement even if new information becomes available, as a result of future events or for any other reason, unless required by applicable securities laws and regulations.
