17: BioPorto continues negotiations
April 27 2007
Announcement no. 17
BioPorto continues licensing negotiations
BioPorto continues to carry on a positive dialog with several of the largest companies within the diagnostics sector relating to license rights for NGAL analyses in serum and urine respectively, including for the formats Random Access and Point of Care (devices). The potential agreements could become mutually interdependent, however, which would prolong the process.
Also, the process is heavily influenced by the ongoing consolidation of the sector, as several companies with which BioPorto is conducting dialog either are or have been involved in major acquisition activities. This has meant that the companies in question have been involved in strategic changes and in replacing key personnel, which explains why the licensing negotiations have had to await internal decision-making.
In Stock Market Announcement no. 8, issued on February 13, 2007, BioPorto announced an expectation that the first licensing agreement relating to NGAL would be in place in April 2007. The reason the negotiations have yet to be finalized is primarily due to the two factors mentioned above.
Consequently, BioPorto has chosen to launch the national phase for the issue of a patent instead of waiting for one or more license agreements to fall into place.
BioPorto still expects the patent´s value to be the same and continues to expect license revenues to account for the majority of the company’s earnings in 2007, i.e. running into the millions. Never the less, the licensing negotiations are expected to last all summer long with the possibility of concluding the first agreement during Q3 2007.By virtue of the ongoing capital increase, the company is well prepared for continuing the negotiations, even though it has taken longer to enter into the first agreement than originally anticipated.
Sincerely yours,
Thea Olesen
Managing Director
Further details are available by contacting:
Christina Tønnesen, Investor Relations
Tel.: +45 4529 0029, e-mail: ct@bioporto.com
