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Polyphor announces extension of R&D collaboration

Allschwil, Switzerland, December 1, 2015. Polyphor Ltd, a privately held pharmaceutical company, announced today the extension of its R&D collaboration with Novartis focused on Polyphor's PEM (Protein Epitope Mimetic) drug discovery technology.

Under the terms of the extension the parties will work together towards the nomination of a clinical PEM macrocycle drug candidate. Polyphor will receive funding for its research and development activities related to the collaboration project and will be eligible for preclinical and clinical development milestones and royalties on the commercial sales of approved products. Novartis is responsible for clinical development and commercialization.

"This extension of our existing R&D collaboration with Novartis further validates Polyphor's ability to identify and optimize novel PEM drug candidates for challenging targets," said Dr. Michael Altorfer, CEO of Polyphor. "By establishing and successfully progressing R&D collaborations with Pharma collaborators we fully exploit and leverage our proprietary PEM platform, while balancing development risks by broadening and diversifying our R&D portfolio. Our collaborative projects complement Polyphor's own drug R&D, which remains focused on hospital patient care and rare diseases."

About Polyphor Ltd:

Polyphor is a Swiss Pharma company focusing on the discovery and development of macrocycle drugs addressing high unmet medical needs. Macrocycles represent a new drug class complementary to the traditional small molecules and large biopharmaceuticals. Polyphor leverages its unique and proprietary technology platforms to develop its own product portfolio and to pursue licensing and collaboration opportunities with industry partners. The company's lead drug candidates include POL6326, Balixafortide, (Phase II), a CXCR4 antagonist, for tissue repair and combination treatments in oncology; POL7080 (Phase II), a highly specific antibiotic with a novel mode of action to treat Pseudomonas infections; and POL6014 (Phase I), an inhaled inhibitor of neutrophil elastase for the treatment of Alpha-1 Antitrypsin Deficiency, Cystic Fibrosis, and other lung diseases. Polyphor is a privately held company with about 100 employees, headquartered in Allschwil, near Basel. For additional information, please visit www.polyphor.com.