LEO Pharma Initiates Global Search for New Partners

AsiaNet 49709

BALLERUP, Denmark, June 14, /PRN=KYODO JBN/ --

    LEO Pharma is now actively searching for new global or territorial partners

to deliver promising new compounds for its dermatology-focused pipeline.

Corporate VP hopes to sign two or more new deals before the end of 2012.

    (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120614/537969-a )

    (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120614/537969-b )

    (Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120614/537969-c )

    After successfully gaining FDA approval in April for Picato(R), a novel

treatment for solar keratoses, LEO Pharma has initiated a global search for new

partners within dermatology.

    "Last year, we changed our R&D focus to concentrate solely on dermatology.

We are now a dermatology company, and we're searching for partners and

opportunities to strengthen that position," says Kristian Lykke Fick, who is

spearheading the partner search as Corporate Vice President of Corporate

Business Development. He says that LEO Pharma last year spent EUR 141m on

Research & Development, close to 15 percent of the company's revenue.

    This year, LEO Pharma entered its first multi-million-dollar collaboration

in January by signing an in-licensing deal with U.S. biotech company Virobay

Inc. to develop an oral treatment for psoriasis.

    When searching the globe for new partners, LEO Pharma focuses equally on

existing and new therapeutic areas. The company currently has products

indicated for psoriasis, atopic dermatitis, eczema and solar keratoses.

    "Basically, any opportunity within prescription dermatology with a sales

potential above EUR 75m has our interest. We seek early- and late-stage

compounds as well as new delivery systems. Besides our current therapeutic

focus, we'll be looking for drug candidates targeted at, for example, acne,

rosacea, vitiligo, skin cancer and orphan skin diseases," says Kristian Lykke

Fick and continues:

    "We typically consider 500 opportunities annually, of which we find 100

interesting enough for further dialogue. In the end, we move about 10 of them

to due diligence. I hope we'll find a handful of these most promising

candidates at this year's BIO convention. If everything works out well, we can

sign another two to three significant deals this year."

    LEO Pharma has more than 5,000 employees in 61 countries with total revenue

of EUR 1,039m in 2011. This makes it the third-largest pharmaceutical company

in Denmark, preceded only by H. Lundbeck and Novo Nordisk. The BIO

International Convention will be held June 18-21 in Boston and is the largest

global partnering event for the biotechnology industry with more than 15,000

participants.

    Link to fact sheet about LEO Pharma

[http://www.leo-pharma.com/Files/Billeder/LEO_corporate_images/graphics/LEO

PharmaCorporate Media Fact Sheet_FINAL.pdf ]

    Contact:

    Kristian Lykke Fick, Corporate Vice President, Corporate Business

Development, Mobile: +45-41-37-11-22, E-mail: kristian.fick@leo-pharma.com

    Source: LEO Pharma