RNS Number:2946I
Profile Therapeutics PLC
05 March 2003


Immediate Release                                           07:05 5 March 2003



                            Profile Therapeutics plc
                expands respiratory drug portfolio in Europe and
                agrees to form joint venture to enter US market


Profile Therapeutics plc ("Profile"), leader in the development and supply of
inhaled drug delivery systems, has entered into a European supply and licence
agreement with Breath Limited ("Breath") to expand its pipeline of respiratory
drugs. In a separate transaction, Profile and Breath have also agreed to form a
joint venture to develop and market a range of respiratory products in the North
American homecare market from 2005 onwards.

Breath is a privately owned manufacturer of sterile and respiratory
pharmaceuticals and a subsidiary of Arrow Group, which is a significant
privately owned international group of generic pharmaceutical companies.

Under the terms of the supply and licence agreement with Breath, Profile Pharma
Limited, Profile's specialist pharmaceutical division, will obtain licences for
and supply of a range of widely used inhaled respiratory drugs. Profile Pharma
will market these drugs across Europe, under its own brand name. The range of
drugs being in-licensed includes an inhaled corticosteroid, a bronchodilator and
an anticholinergic, all of which are commonly used in the treatment of
respiratory diseases such as severe asthma, cystic fibrosis and chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

The European market for these generic drugs in nebulised form is estimated by
Profile to be in excess of $250 million per annum. It is anticipated that,
subject to due regulatory process, Profile will commence marketing the first of
these drugs in late 2004.

Under a separate agreement, Profile and Breath will form a joint venture to
commercialise a range of respiratory drugs in the North American homecare
market. The companies will share costs, revenues and profits associated with
providing proprietary formats of these drugs in conjunction with Profile's novel
Miniature Intelligent Inhaler system. Subject to due regulatory process, the
joint venture is expected to commence sales in North America in 2005.

This venture represents Profile's first step into the North American market for
respiratory drugs, where the value of drugs in nebulised form is estimated by
Profile to be in excess of $1.0 billion per annum.

Commenting on today's announcement John Lisle, CEO of Profile, said:

"These agreements reflect our strategy of increasing the range of drugs in our
portfolio and marketing them internationally in combination with our proprietary
intelligent inhalers. They represent an exciting combination of the capabilities
of Profile and the Arrow Group."


                                   - ENDS -



For further information, please contact:

Profile Therapeutics
John Lisle, Chief Executive Officer                          Tel: 0870 770 2116

Buchanan Communications                                      Tel: 020 7466 5000
Nicola How



Notes to Editors:

Profile Therapeutics plc develops and commercialises specialist inhaled
therapies to improve the treatment of respiratory patients. Its first drug
Promixin, an inhaled antibiotic for the treatment of cystic fibrosis received a
Marketing Authorisation from the UK Medicines Control Agency in February 2003
and was launched in the UK in March.
                                                             
This announcement increases Profile's portfolio of products, which will now
include the broad range of principal therapies for the diseases suffered by the
company's core patient groups. These are the young, the elderly and individuals
with severe respiratory impairment. The diseases targeted by Profile include:
Cystic Fibrosis, severe asthma, emphysema, chronic bronchitis and other
conditions classified as Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease ("COPD").

These patients typically use nebulisers to deliver their drugs as they are not
best served by the mass market Metered Dose Inhalers (MDI's) and Dry Powder
Inhalers (DPI's). Profile has developed proprietary innovative delivery systems
using its "intelligent inhaler" technology known as Adaptive Aerosol Delivery
technology or AAD. These systems automatically respond to individual patients'
breathing patterns to deliver a precise dose and have been shown under long term
clinical trials to significantly enhance patient compliance to therapy.

Breath Limited is a subsidiary of the Arrow Group, a significant privately-owned
pharmaceutical company focused on the international provision of generic drugs.
Breath is a specialist pharmaceutical company formed for the purposes of
supplying world markets with sterile and respiratory drugs and has already
achieved a significant 'first to file' sterile eye product in the USA and
elsewhere.

The Arrow Group was founded in 2001 by Tony Tabatznik, the founder and former
Chairman of Merck Generics, together with many of the key employees of Merck
Generics, who grew that business to annual sales of over $750 million.

The Arrow Group has fully operational pharmaceutical companies in the UK,
Continental Europe, Australasia, USA, Canada and South America. The Australian
Arrow subsidiary went public on the Sydney Stock Exchange in October 2002.



                      This information is provided by RNS
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