MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.,
Feb. 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/
-- Alexza Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALXA, "Alexza, or the
"Company') announced today that on February
15, 2016 it had entered into a non-binding letter of intent
(the "Letter of Intent") with Grupo Ferrer
Internacional, S.A. ("Ferrer") with respect to Ferrer's
proposed acquisition of all outstanding Common Shares of the
Company (the "Transaction"). The Letter of Intent, which was
described in Ferrer's recent Schedule 13D filing, does not
constitute a binding agreement to consummate such acquisition and
it entitles both Alexza and Ferrer to terminate discussions at any
time in their sole discretion. Additionally Alexza can, at
its discretion, enter into discussions with third parties and
continue to explore strategic options. There can be no
assurance that such potential Transaction will be agreed to or
consummated.
The entering into the Letter of Intent follows exploration of
strategic options that the Company announced previously. On
September 28, 2015, the Company
announced that it had retained Guggenheim Securities, LLC to assist
in exploring strategic options to enhance stockholder value,
including a possible sale or disposition of one or more corporate
assets, a strategic business combination, partnership or other
transactions.
Alexza's Board of Directors will review and carefully evaluate
the terms of the potential Transaction with its financial and legal
advisors. Neither the Board nor the Company intends to
comment further at this time.
About Grupo Ferrer Internacional,
S.A.
Founded in 1959, Ferrer is a privately-held European R&D-based
pharmaceutical company headquartered in Barcelona. It is
active in the pharmaceutical, health, fine chemicals and food
sectors in Europe, Latin America, Africa, the Middle
East, Asia and the United
States. In total, Ferrer's human healthcare products are
commercialized in more than 90 countries, through 27 international
affiliates (including joint ventures) and 70 partners and
distributors.
Ferrer carries out activities throughout the full pharmaceutical
value chain, from R&D to international marketing, including
fine chemical development and the manufacturing of both raw
materials and finished pharmaceuticals. Its research centers
in Spain and Germany, and manufacturing sites in
Europe and Latin America cover the pharmaceutical,
diagnostics, vaccine, fine chemical, food and feed sectors.
For more information, please visit www.ferrer.com.
Ferrer is the beneficial owner of 2,366,935 Common Shares of the
Company, representing 12.1% of the outstanding Common Shares of the
Company.
About Alexza Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Alexza Pharmaceuticals is focused on the research, development, and
commercialization of novel, proprietary products for the acute
treatment of central nervous system conditions. Alexza's
products and development pipeline are based on the
Staccato® system, a hand-held inhaler designed to
deliver a pure drug aerosol to the deep lung, providing rapid
systemic delivery and therapeutic onset, in a simple, non-invasive
manner. Active pipeline product candidates include AZ-002
(Staccato alprazolam) for the management of epilepsy in
patients with acute repetitive seizures and AZ-007 (Staccato
zaleplon) for the treatment of patients with middle of the night
insomnia.
ADASUVE® is Alexza's first commercial product and is
currently available in 20 countries. The product is approved
for sale by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the European
Commission and in several Latin American countries. Grupo
Ferrer Internacional SA is Alexza's commercial partner for ADASUVE
in Europe, Latin America, the Commonwealth of Independent
States countries, the Middle East
and North Africa countries, Korea,
Philippines and Thailand.
ADASUVE® and Staccato® are registered
trademarks of Alexza Pharmaceuticals, Inc. For more
information about Alexza, the Staccato system technology or
the Company's development programs, please visit
www.alexza.com.
Safe Harbor Statement
This news release contains
forward-looking statements that involve significant risks and
uncertainties. Any statement describing the Company's expectations
or beliefs is a forward-looking statement, as defined in the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and should be
considered an at-risk statement. Such statements are subject to
certain risks and uncertainties, particularly those inherent in the
timing and whether the Company and Ferrer may reach a final
agreement on a potential acquisition; the process of developing and
commercializing drugs, including the adequacy of the Company's
capital to support the Company's operations; the ability of Alexza
and Ferrer to effectively and profitably commercialize ADASUVE;
Alexza's ability to secure a new U.S. commercial partner for
ADASUVE in other territories and the terms of any such partnership;
and the Company's ability to raise additional funds and the
potential terms of such potential financings. The Company's
forward-looking statements also involve assumptions that, if they
prove incorrect, would cause its results to differ materially from
those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.
These and other risks concerning Alexza's business are described in
additional detail in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for
the year ended December 31, 2014 and
the Company's other Periodic and Current Reports filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission. Forward-looking statements
contained in this announcement are made as of this date, and the
Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any
forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise.
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SOURCE Alexza Pharmaceuticals, Inc.