BioCryst Pharmaceuticals and Presidio Pharmaceuticals Mutually Terminate Merger Transaction
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C. & SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:BCRX) and privately held Presidio
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced the mutual termination of the
Merger Agreement and the related Investor Financing Agreement entered
into on October 17, 2012. Although the original rationale for the merger
had merit, the parties determined that terminating the merger was in the
best interest of both companies and their respective shareholders at
this time.
The termination of the transaction has been approved by the Boards of
both companies. In association with the termination, both parties will
release each other from all obligations with respect to the proposed
transaction. Each company will bear its own legal and transaction fees.
Future BioCryst Conference Call and Webcast
Executives from BioCryst will host a conference call and webcast on
Friday, December 7, 2012 at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time, to discuss
BioCryst's future strategy and initiatives. To participate in the
conference call, please dial 1-877-303-8027 (United States) or
1-760-536-5165 (International). No passcode is needed for the call. The
webcast can be accessed by logging onto www.BioCryst.com.
Please connect to the website at least 15 minutes prior to the start of
the conference call to ensure adequate time for any software download
that may be necessary. The event and slide presentation will be
available prior to the event and archived after in the Investor
Relations section of www.BioCryst.com.
About BioCryst Pharmaceuticals
BioCryst Pharmaceuticals designs, optimizes and develops novel small
molecule drugs that block key enzymes involved in infectious and
inflammatory diseases. BioCryst currently has two late-stage programs:
peramivir, a viral neuraminidase inhibitor for the treatment of
influenza, and ulodesine (BCX4208), a purine nucleoside phosphorylase
(PNP) inhibitor for the treatment of gout. In addition, BioCryst is
advancing two preclinical programs: BCX5191, a nucleoside analog
inhibitor of HCV RNA polymerase (NS5B) for hepatitis C, and BCX4161, an
oral inhibitor of plasma kallikrein for hereditary angioedema. Utilizing
state-of-the-art structure-guided drug design and crystallography,
BioCryst continues to discover innovative compounds with the goal of
addressing unmet medical needs of patients and physicians. For more
information, please visit the BioCryst's website at www.BioCryst.com.
About Presidio Pharmaceuticals
Presidio Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a San Francisco-based clinical stage
specialty pharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery and
development of small molecule antiviral therapeutics. The Presidio
portfolio includes PPI-668, an oral, once-daily pan-genotypic NS5A with
demonstrated antiviral efficacy and safety in a recently completed Phase
1b trial in HCV patients, and PPI-383, a pan-genotypic, non-nucleoside
NS5B currently undergoing IND-enabling studies to support initiation of
clinical trials alone and in combination with PPI-668 during 2013. For
more information, please visit Presidio's website at www.presidiopharma.com.
BioCryst Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including
statements regarding future results, performance or achievements. These
statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other
factors which may cause BioCryst's actual results, performance or
achievements to be materially different from any future results,
performances or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking
statements. These statements reflect our current views with respect to
future events and are based on assumptions and subject to risks and
uncertainties. Other important factors include: that there can be no
assurance that BioCryst's compounds will prove effective in clinical
trials; that development and commercialization of BioCryst's compounds
may not be successful; that BARDA/HHS may further condition, reduce or
eliminate future funding of the peramivir program; that BioCryst or
licensees may not be able to enroll the required number of subjects in
clinical trials of their respective product candidates and that such
clinical trials may not be successfully completed; that BioCryst or
licensees may not commence, as expected, additional human clinical
trials with product candidates; that the FDA may require additional
studies beyond the studies planned for product candidates or may not
provide regulatory clearances which may result in delay of planned
clinical trials, clinical hold with respect to such product candidate or
the lack of market approval for such product candidate; that ongoing and
future preclinical and clinical development may not have positive
results; that BioCryst or licensees may not be able to continue future
development of current and future development programs; that such
development programs may never result in future product, license or
royalty payments being received; that BioCryst may not be able to retain
its current pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners for further
development of its product candidates or may not reach favorable
agreements with potential pharmaceutical and biotechnology partners for
further development of product candidates; that BioCryst's actual cash
burn rate may not be consistent with its expectations; that BioCryst may
not have sufficient cash to continue funding the development,
manufacturing, marketing or distribution of products and that additional
funding, if necessary, may not be available at all or on terms
acceptable to BioCryst. Please refer to the documents BioCryst files
periodically with the Securities and Exchange Commission, specifically
BioCryst's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on
Form 10-Q, and current reports on Form 8-K, all of which identify
important factors that could cause the actual results to differ
materially from those contained in BioCryst's projections and
forward-looking statements.
BioCryst Pharmaceuticals Robert Bennett, 919-859-7910
