ProMetic Reports its 2014 Annual and Special Meeting of Shareholders Highlights

LAVAL, QUEBEC--(Marketwired - May 14, 2014) - ProMetic Life Sciences Inc. (TSX:PLI)(OTCQX:PFSCF) ("ProMetic" or the "Corporation") today reported the highlights from its 2013 annual and special meeting of shareholders and Board of Directors election results.

ProMetic confirmed that it was anticipating its baseline revenue in 2014 to significantly exceed 2013 level and that its ongoing transition towards becoming a vertically integrated, specialty Biopharmaceutical Corporation is well under way and progressing as planned. Baseline revenues combining affinity resin sales and licensing and services revenues are expected to nearly double compared to 2013, mainly driven by partnering deals for product assets that will have reach clinical stage.

During the presentation, management confirmed the drug development pipeline activities for 2014:

• The PBI-4050 clinical program is expected to enroll diabetic patients with chronic kidney disease in H2 2014;
  
  
• The plasminogen clinical program and regulatory pathway has been confirmed during a pre-IND meeting with the FDA and ProMetic expect to start enrolling patients in early H2 2014;
  
  
• The IVIG clinical program and regulatory pathway has been confirmed during a pre-IND meeting with the FDA and ProMetic expect to start enrolling patients in late 2014;
  
  
• ProMetic expect to start enrolling patients for its Alpha 1 Antitrypsin clinical trial in Q1 2015; and
  
  
• ProMetic expect to have 2 additional plasma-derived orphan drugs enabled in 2014.
  
  

In line with its new commercialization strategy, the Corporation is developing more of its assets to an advanced stage prior to partnering. This is allowing ProMetic to retain a greater portion of the future returns from those high-value products and lucrative markets, thereby ultimately increasing shareholder value.

"We expect 2014 to be a pivotal year for ProMetic. Some of our lead drug candidates, from both the plasma derived and small molecules segments, are scheduled to commence clinical trial stages in patients during the second half of the year", mentioned Mr Pierre Laurin, President and CEO of ProMetic Life Sciences. "Our product pipeline is developing as planned and the filing of various INDs over the coming months will demonstrate the significant depth and value our proprietary technologies can generate", added Mr Laurin. 

2014 Corporate Objectives: 

ProMetic communicated the following corporate objectives during its annual and special meeting of shareholders:

• Continued growth of the bioseparation business;
  
  
• Manufacturing of required GMP clinical trial material at ProMetic BioProduction Inc. in Laval, Quebec for ongoing plasma derived development programs;
  
  
• Advancing several plasma derived drug candidates to clinical trial stages;
  
  
• Enabling of new orphan drug candidates;
  
  
• Securing additional orphan drug designations;
  
  
• Advancing lead small molecule drug candidate to patients clinical trial stage; and
  
  
• Developing and entering into new partnering deals/strategic alliances to provide market access and further manufacturing capacity. 
  
  

The current auditors, Ernst & Young, were reappointed as auditors of the Corporation, to hold office until the next annual meeting of shareholders.

The following Directors were elected to hold offices until the next annual meeting of shareholders or until their successors are elected or appointed:

Detailed voting results for the meeting are available on SEDAR at www.sedar.com

New Directors Elected 

Dr. Simon Best was elected as a new board member and appointed as Chairman of the board. Dr Best is a seasoned leader from the global biotech industry.

Commenting the election of the new Director and the resignation of ProMetic's Chairman of the Board of Directors, Mr. Pierre Laurin, President and Chief Executing Officer of ProMetic commented; "I would like to welcome Dr Simon Best to our Board of Directors. I am convinced we will greatly benefit from his vast industry experience. I would also like to thank Kym for his contribution and leadership as Chairman of the Board of ProMetic over the past three years and as a Board member for the past nine years. I am also pleased that the Corporation will continue to benefit from Kym's expertise in the capital markets as a special advisor to my office", added Mr. Laurin. He also thanked Mr. Robert Lacroix for 14 years of dedicated service to the Board of ProMetic.

Due to the number of votes against the proposal to increase the maximum number of restricted share unit reserved for issuance under the restricted share unit ("RSU") plan and to amend the RSU plan to add members of the Board of Directors as eligible to participate under the RSU plan, the Board of Directors decided to withdraw the proposal.

About Dr Simon Best

Dr Best has served, both as a Founder, CEO and Chairman or Board Member of Lifescience companies and as a Chairman or Trustee of major industry bodies and public sector institutions, in the UK, USA, Europe, Asia and Latin America. He is also an experienced Angel, Venture Capital and Private Equity investor. Through the 90's, Dr. Best became a leading international figure - initially as a champion of GM Food technology and then as the CEO of the company formed at the Roslin Institute in 1998 to exploit medical applications of the technology that produced Dolly The Sheep. Dr. Best is a past Vice-Chairman of the US Biotechnology Industry Organisation and Chairman of the UK BioIndustry Association. He built 3 substantial Lifescience ventures between 1991 and 2005 - Zeneca Plant Science (Delaware, USA), Roslin BioMed and Ardana (Edinburgh, UK), and between 2010 and 2012 refocussed and rationalised a 4th - Aquapharm (Oban, UK), a pioneering marine biotechnology company. Between 2005 and 2010, he was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence for TVM Capital's MENA Fund in UAE and India and in 2008 co-founded PAR Equity LLP in Edinburgh. He was awarded the London Business School Alumni Achievement Prize in 2007. He holds an MBA from London Business School and an Honorary Doctorate and B.Mus from York University. In 2007, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. In 2008, he was awarded an OBE by Queen Elizabeth II and appointed a Visiting Professor of Medicine by the University of Edinburgh.

About ProMetic Life Sciences Inc. 

ProMetic Life Sciences Inc. (www.prometic.com) is a long established biopharmaceutical company with globally recognized expertise in bioseparations, plasma-derived therapeutics and small-molecule drug development. ProMetic offers its state of the art technologies for large-scale purification of biologics, drug development, proteomics and the elimination of pathogens to a growing base of industry leaders and uses its own affinity technology that provides for highly efficient extraction and purification of therapeutic proteins from human plasma in order to develop best-in-class therapeutics and orphan drugs. ProMetic is also active in developing its own novel small-molecule therapeutic products targeting unmet medical needs in the field of fibrosis, cancer and autoimmune diseases/inflammation. A number of both the plasma-derived and small molecule products are under development for orphan drug indications. Headquartered in Laval (Canada), ProMetic has R&D facilities in the UK, the U.S. and Canada, manufacturing facilities in the UK and business development activities in the U.S., Europe and Asia.

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 in ProMetic's Annual Information Form for the year ended December 31, 2013, under the heading "Risk and Uncertainties related to ProMetic's business". 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. All amounts are in Canadian dollars unless indicated otherwise.