ProMetic Reports its Second Quarter 2015 Highlights and Financial Results

LAVAL, QUEBEC--(Marketwired - Aug. 13, 2015) - ProMetic Life Sciences Inc. (TSX:PLI)(OTCQX:PFSCF) ("ProMetic" or the "Corporation") today reported its second quarter ended June 30, 2015 highlights and financial results. 

"With our cash position combined with proceeds generated from our commercial activities, we are well positioned to execute on our development plans for our plasma-derived and small-molecule therapeutics", said Mr. Bruce Pritchard, Chief Operating and Chief Financial Officer of ProMetic Life Sciences Inc. "We anticipate revenues in the second half of 2015 to exceed $20 million, based on already secured orders", added Mr. Pritchard.

"We have achieved one of the key objectives by securing additional production capacity. This will also allow us to accelerate our development program and will contribute to our expected revenue growth", mentioned Mr. Pierre Laurin, President and CEO of ProMetic Life Sciences Inc. "Moreover, our clinical programs are progressing well and we look forward to providing updates as we continue to advance our lead drug candidates in the clinics", added Mr. Laurin. 

Second Quarter 2015 Business Highlights

During the second quarter of 2015, ProMetic:

• Completed a $57.6 million bought deal financing comprised of 22.1 million common shares, including over-allotment, in the capital of the Corporation at a price of $2.60 per share;
  
  
• Selected C1 Esterase Inhibitor ("C1-INH") as its next plasma-derived drug candidate to be developed. The C1-INH protein is most commonly used for the treatment of hereditary angioedema ("HAE"), a rare genetic disorder in which C1-INH is lacking;
  
  
• Entered into a strategic long-term manufacturing agreement with Emergent BioSolutions ("Emergent") providing ProMetic with access to additional cGMP processing capacity of up to 250,000 liters of plasma annually in an FDA-licensed facility, located in Winnipeg, Canada;
  
  
• Presented new pre-clinical data at the American Thoracic Society 2015 International Conference held in Denver, USA, on PBI-4050, its orally active anti-fibrotic drug candidate in phase II clinical trials for the treatment of IPF whereby in the gold standard animal model used to emulate pulmonary fibrosis in humans, PBI-4050 performed favorably compared to Nintedanib, one of the two FDA-approved products for such medical use;
  
  
• Presented new data at the European Renal Association (ERA) annual meeting in London, UK confirming that PBI-4050's anti-fibrotic effect demonstrated in the kidney in several different animal models has been successfully reproduced in human kidney cell lines during in vitro experiments;
  
  
• Provided an update regarding its strategic partnership with GENERIUM Pharmaceuticals ("GENERIUM") confirming that the construction of Generium's GMP plasma purification facility is progressing rapidly and ahead of the originally anticipated timelines with the facility designed to process up to 600,000 liters of plasma annually expected to be operational in H2 2017;
  
  

Subsequent to quarter end:

• Received an orphan drug designation status for its human plasma derived plasminogen drug by the European Commission for the treatment of plasminogen deficiency.
  
  
• Plasminogen was confirmed to be safe and well tolerated in plasminogen-deficient patients and the Corporation is proceeding to the administration of a higher dose;
  
  
• Completed the acquisition of Emergent BioSolutions' ("Emergent") plasma collection center located in Winnipeg, Canada which was announced in May. Emergent's plasma collection center is an FDA and Health Canada licensed plasma collection facility;
  
  
• Enrolled the first twelve patients with Type 2 Diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome in PBI-4050 Phase II clinical trial.
  
  

More on Second Quarter 2015 Financial Results

The financial information for the second quarter ended June 30, 2015 should be read in conjunction with the Corporation's condensed interim consolidated financial statements as well as the Management's Discussion and Analysis for the quarter and six months ended June 30, 2015.

The Corporation finished the second quarter ended June 30, 2015 with a strong cash position of $56.7 million.

Total revenues for the second quarter ended June 30, 2015 were $2.9 million compared to $4.4 million for the second quarter ended June 30, 2014. Revenues from the sale of goods amounted to $2.7 million compared to $3.1 million for the same period in 2014. Service revenues were $0.2 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2015 compared to $1.3 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2014. The decrease is due to lower product sales and the fact that services billed to NantPro are being eliminated upon consolidation due to its acquisition from a control perspective in May 2014.

ProMetic generated a net loss of $14.8 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2015 compared to a net earnings of $23.4 million for the quarter ended June 30, 2014. The increase in the net loss is mainly due to the fact that in the second quarter 2014, the Corporation had recognized an aggregate gain of $32.3 million in relation to the Nantpro business combination whereas this transaction did not impact in the second quarter 2015. The Corporation incurred total R&D costs of $10.6 million and administration, selling and marketing expenses costs of $3.7 million in the second quarter of 2015 compared to $9.7 million in total R&D costs and $2.7 million in administration, selling and marketing expenses costs in the second quarter of 2014.

Second Quarter 2015 Conference Call Information

ProMetic will host a conference call at 11:00am (EST) on Friday, August 14, 2015. The telephone numbers to access the conference call are (647) 788-4922 (International) and 1-877-223-4471 (Toll-free). A replay of the call will be available from August 14, 2015 at 2:00 p.m. until August 21, 2015. The numbers to access the replay are 1-416-621-4642 (passcode: 83098287) and 1-800-585-8367 (passcode: 83098287). A live audio webcast of the conference call will be available through the following: http://www.gowebcasting.com/6649.

Additional Information in Respect to the Second Quarter ended June 30, 2015

• ProMetic's MD&A and condensed interim consolidated financial statements for the quarter ended June 30, 2015 have been filed on SEDAR (http://www.sedar.com/) and will be available on the Corporation's website at www.prometic.com.
  
  
• Election of Directors voting results at the last AGM
  
  

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 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, 2014, 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.