ANNAPOLIS, Md., Oct. 8, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- PharmAthene, Inc. (NYSE MKT: PIP) today announced that the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York has partially lifted the stay of PharmAthene's litigation against SIGA Technologies, Inc., in the Delaware Court of Chancery. The order allows the Chancery Court to issue a final judgment and the parties to pursue appeals thereof. Enforcement of any judgment, once entered will remain subject to the Bankruptcy Court stay.
Separately, the Company announced that the United States Trustee has selected PharmAthene to serve on the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of SIGA Technologies, Inc., debtor-in-possession. As a member of the Committee, PharmAthene will play an active role in the bankruptcy proceedings.
In its filings with the Bankruptcy Court, SIGA indicated that it expects to continue to perform under its contract with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and is eligible to receive up to an additional $211.5 million in revenue under this contract, in addition to the $198 million it has already received.
A copy of the Delaware Court's opinions including the present decision and order in the case are available on PharmAthene's website at www.pharmathene.com under the "Investor Relations" tab.
About PharmAthene
PharmAthene is engaged in the development and commercialization of next generation medical countermeasures against biological and chemical threats. PharmAthene's current biodefense portfolio includes the following product candidates:
- SparVax® - a next generation recombinant protective antigen (rPA) anthrax vaccine
- rBChE bioscavenger - a medical countermeasure for nerve agent poisoning by organophosphorous compounds, including nerve gases and pesticides
- Valortim® - a fully human monoclonal antibody for the prevention and treatment of anthrax infection
For more information about PharmAthene, please visit www.PharmAthene.com.
Statement on Cautionary Factors
Except for the historical information presented herein, matters discussed may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements preceded by, followed by, or that include the words "potential"; "believe"; "anticipate"; "intend"; "plan"; "expect"; "estimate"; "could"; "may"; "should"; "will"; "project"; "potential"; or similar statements are forward-looking statements. PharmAthene disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements other than as required by law. Risks and uncertainties include risk associated with our interest in Tecovirimat, the reliability of the results of the studies relating to human safety and possible adverse effects resulting from the administration of the Company's product candidates, unexpected funding delays and/or reductions or elimination of U.S. government funding for one or more of the Company's development programs, the award of government contracts to our competitors, unforeseen safety issues, challenges related to the development, scale-up, technology transfer, and/or process validation of manufacturing processes for our product candidates, unexpected determinations that these product candidates prove not to be effective and/or capable of being marketed as products, as well as risks detailed from time to time in PharmAthene's Forms 10-K and 10-Q under the caption "Risk Factors" and in its other reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). Further, significant additional non-clinical animal studies, human clinical trials, and manufacturing development work remain to be completed for all of our product candidates. The Chancery Court's decision relating to damages does not specify an amount of damages, and such amount is subject to dispute between the parties. The amount of the award remains subject to further calculation and approval by the Chancery Court and there may be further proceedings before the final amount is approved by the Chancery Court, which determination, along with the decision itself will remain subject to appeal by SIGA to the Delaware Supreme Court. As a result, the decision could be reversed, remanded or otherwise changed. There can be no assurances whether or when the Company will receive any payments from SIGA as a result of the decision. SIGA has stated that it does not currently have cash sufficient to satisfy the potential award. Furthermore, because SIGA has filed for protection under the federal bankruptcy laws, the Company is automatically stayed from taking any enforcement action and even if the proceeding in the Chancery Court proceeds, the payment of any award by SIGA would be subject to decisions made by the Bankruptcy Court as part of the bankruptcy proceedings. Copies of PharmAthene's public disclosure filings are available from its investor relations department and our website under the investor relations tab at www.PharmAthene.com. All information set forth in this press release is current as of October 8, 2014. PharmAthene undertakes no duty to update any statement in light of new information or future events.
SOURCE PharmAthene, Inc.