NOXXON Pharma AG Achieves Milestone in Partnership with Eli Lilly and Company

NOXXON Pharma AG (NOXXON), the biopharmaceutical company focusing on the development of novel medicines based on its unique proprietary Spiegelmer® technology, announced today the achievement of an important milestone in its drug discovery and development partnership with Eli Lilly and Company (NYSE:LLY). NOXXON's successful identification of a Spiegelmer® with picomolar affinity and high selectivity for its target met contractually specified milestone criteria and triggers a payment of an undisclosed amount. Lilly and NOXXON entered into the agreement last year to discover and develop Spiegelmers® for the treatment of migraine.

NOXXON's Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Sven Klussmann, commented: "The rapid delivery of what appears to be an immensely potent compound illustrates the power of the Spiegelmer® platform and represents the first major landmark in our partnership. We now look forward to Lilly applying its substantial expertise in the field of migraine in taking the Spiegelmer® to the next level."

William Chin, M.D., vice president of discovery and clinical research at Lilly, added: "NOXXON's identification of the lead compound is an outstanding milestone achievement. The use of Spiegelmers® for the potential treatment of migraine headache is a novel and promising approach. We are excited to continue our work with NOXXON to bring Spiegelmers® to our patients as soon as possible."

Following the completion of the discovery work, the identified Spiegelmer® will undergo pharmacological testing and preclinical development. Lilly is responsible for the preclinical and clinical development as well as the commercialization of the Spiegelmer® product, provided the product is approved by regulatory authorities.

About Spiegelmers®

Spiegelmers® (Laptamers) are chemical entities based on synthetic mirrorimage oligonucleotides which are highly selective for their pharmacological target and potent inhibitors of target function. They combine the benefits of small molecule drugs and biopharmaceuticals. Due to their unique mirror image configuration Spiegelmers® are not metabolized and do not hybridize with native nucleic acids. Unlike conventional nucleic acids, Spiegelmers® do not activate the innate immune response via tolllike receptors and they showed an exceptionally favorable immunogenicity profile in preclinical testing.