Pharming categorically denies having had any involvement in
the alleged abstraction of proprietary information by Dr
Joseph Chiao from his former
employer CSL
LEIDEN, Netherlands,
Oct. 16, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --
Pharming Group N.V. (Euronext Amsterdam: PHARM) today confirmed it
has been included in an injunction in the US obtained by CSL
Behring, a subsidiary of CSL Limited of Australia ("CSL"), to prevent possible
transmission of proprietary documents and data to Pharming which
CSL claims have been removed from its systems by Dr Joseph Chiao, who was hired recently by Pharming
to be a medical director.
The injunction is aimed at giving CSL time and opportunity to
investigate how and what was taken, and whether or not Pharming was
involved and/or has received any of the abstracted data or
documents.
Pharming is issuing this release to state for the record that
Pharming did not induce or encourage Dr Chiao to breach any rules
or contract terms or in any way to remove any data from his former
employer. Furthermore, Pharming has not received or seen any
proprietary CSL information from Dr Chiao or any other source.
Pharming is cooperating with CSL in the cyber-interrogation of
all of Pharming's systems and with US judiciary authorities to
demonstrate its innocence of any wrongdoing. In accordance with the
injunction, Dr Chiao has been suspended pending the outcome of the
court hearing.
About Pharming Group N.V.
Pharming is a specialty pharmaceutical company developing
innovative products for the safe, effective treatment of rare
diseases and unmet medical needs. Pharming's lead product,
RUCONEST® (conestat alfa) is a recombinant human C1 esterase
inhibitor approved for the treatment of acute Hereditary Angioedema
("HAE") attacks in patients in Europe, the US, Israel and South
Korea. The product is available on a named-patient basis in
other territories where it has not yet obtained marketing
authorization.
RUCONEST® is distributed by Pharming in Austria, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the
Netherlands, the United
Kingdom and the United States of
America. Pharming holds commercialisation rights in
Algeria, Andorra, Bahrain, Belgium, Ireland, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Portugal, Qatar, Syria,
Spain, Switzerland, Tunisia, United Arab
Emirates and Yemen. In some
of these countries distribution is made in association with the
HAEi Global Access Program (GAP).
RUCONEST® is distributed by Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB (publ)
(SS: SOBI) in the other EU countries, and in Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Iceland, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein, Norway, Russia, Serbia and Ukraine.
RUCONEST® is distributed in Argentina, Colombia, Costa
Rica, the Dominican
Republic, Panama, and
Venezuela by Cytobioteck, in
South Korea by HyupJin Corporation
and in Israel by Kamada.
RUCONEST® is also being examined for approval for the treatment
of HAE in young children (2-13 years of age) and evaluated for
various additional follow-on indications.
Leniolisib is in final stage clinical development for Activated
Phosphoinositide 3-kinase Delta Syndrome ("APDS"). Leniolisib is a
small molecule phosphoinositide 3-kinase delta ("PIK3δ") inhibitor
developed by Nopvartis. Global rights to the product were obtained
from Novartis in August 2019.
Development of the compound through its current
registration-enabling trial will be continued by Novartis and
Pharming in partnership. Pharming will commercialise the treatment
if it obtains approval from regulators.
Pharming's technology platform includes a unique, GMP-compliant,
validated process for the production of pure recombinant human
proteins that has proven capable of producing industrial quantities
of high quality recombinant human proteins in a more economical and
less immunogenetic way compared with current cell-line based
methods. Leads for enzyme replacement therapy ("ERT") for Pompe and
Fabry's diseases are being optimized at present, with additional
programs not involving ERT also being explored at an early stage at
present.
Pharming has a long-term partnership with the China State
Institute of Pharmaceutical Industry ("CSIPI"), a Sinopharm
company, for joint global development of new products, starting
with recombinant human Factor VIII for the treatment of Haemophilia
A. Pre-clinical development and manufacturing will take place to
global standards at CSIPI and are funded by CSIPI. Clinical
development will be shared between the partners with each partner
taking the costs for their territories under the partnership.
Additional information is available on the Pharming website:
www.pharming.com.
Forward-looking Statements
This press release of Pharming Group N.V. and its
subsidiaries ("Pharming", the "Company" or the "Group") may contain
forward-looking statements including without limitation those
regarding Pharming's financial projections, market expectations,
developments, partnerships, plans, strategies and capital
expenditures.
The Company cautions that such forward-looking statements may
involve certain risks and uncertainties, and actual results may
differ. Risks and uncertainties include without limitation the
effect of competitive, political and economic factors, legal
claims, the Company's ability to protect intellectual property,
fluctuations in exchange and interest rates, changes in taxation
laws or rates, changes in legislation or accountancy practices and
the Company's ability to identify, develop and successfully
commercialise new products, markets or technologies.
As a result, the Company's actual performance, position and
financial results and statements may differ materially from the
plans, goals and expectations set forth in such forward-looking
statements. The Company assumes no obligation to update any
forward-looking statements or information, which should be taken as
of their respective dates of issue, unless required by laws or
regulations.
For further public information, contact:
Sijmen de Vries, CEO: T: +31-71-524-7400
FTI Consulting
Julia
Phillips/ Victoria Foster
Mitchell, T: +44-203-727-1136
LifeSpring Life Sciences Communication, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Leon Melens,
Tel: +31-6-53-81-64-27
PRN NLD