Navamedic sells chitin to Lytone Enterprise Inc. in Taiwan

Lysaker, 17 March, 2006: Navamedic ASA has today signed a letter of intent (LOI) with Lytone Enterprise Inc. in Taiwan for the sale of the first year’s production from the company’s planned new chitin factory at Senjahopen in Troms. The LOI has a value of approximately NOK 7 million.


The LOI between Navamedic’s 100% owned subsidiary ChitiNor AS and Lytone Enterprise, Inc. in Taiwan covers the chitin production for one year from the start-up of the chitin factory.

Navamedic in January announced a long-term agreement with the leading Norwegian seafood company Nergård Group and the establishment of a chitin production facility adjacent to the Nergård Group’s shrimp peeling plant in Senjahopen.

Chitin is the starting material for production of glucosamine, the active pharmaceutical ingredient in Navamedic’s Glucomed product for osteoarthritis symptom treatment. Glucomed was recently approved for medicinal use in 20 European countries. Navamedic is currently building a network of marketing and distribution partners to prepare for a launch across Europe.

- We aim to become a leading player in the glucosamine market, and believe we need to be vertically integrated to build long-term cost advantages. Until we have our own glucosamine production up and running, we aim to sell our chitin production to third parties. The letter of intent with Lytone is commercially valuable to Navamedic and confirms the positive development of the chitin and glucosamine markets, says CEO Øyvind Brekke in Navamedic.

Navamedic on 1 March 2006 applied for a listing on the Oslo Stock Exchange.

About Navamedic ASA:
Navamedic is a Norwegian speciality pharmaceutical company focusing on the development and production of glucosamine HCl based medicines. Glucosamine is a generic active ingredient against osteoarthritis with a favourable safety profile. Osteoarthritis is a chronic disease which affects a large and growing share of the world’s population. Navamedic aims to become a leading company in the glucosamine industry by capitalising on proprietary production technology. The company’s products will be sold through a network of sales, marketing and distribution partners in each country. Navamedic’s product Glucomed® was approved as a medicine against osteoarthritis by the Swedish Medical Products Agency in August 2005.

About Lytone Enterprise, Inc:
Lytone Enterprise, Inc. is a biotechnology company, focusing on the food, agriculture and livestock industries. The company was founded in 1994 and is headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan. The company also has a marketing branch office in Shanghai, China and markets its products across South-East Asia as well as in Europe and the USA. For more information, please see www.lytone.com.tw

Contact Information

Jon W. Ringvold

CFO

Navamedic ASA

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