OctoPlus wins expansion of drug delivery evaluation contract with top-5 pharmaceutical company

Leiden, the Netherlands - OctoPlus N.V. (“OctoPlus” or the “Company”) (Euronext: OCTO), the drug delivery company, announces today that it has won an expansion of a drug delivery technology evaluation contract with an existing client, a top-5 global pharmaceutical company. OctoPlus has performed feasibility work for multiple compounds of this client and the client has now decided to proceed with the evaluation of OctoPlus’ PolyActive® technology for an additional product candidate in its pipeline.

Under the contract announced today, OctoPlus will evaluate the feasibility of a controlled release formulation that combines the client’s product candidate with OctoPlus’ proprietary drug delivery technology. If the evaluation is successful, the contract may progress to a full process development, manufacturing and licensing agreement.

About OctoPlus
OctoPlus is a drug delivery company committed to the creation of improved pharmaceutical products that are based on OctoPlus’ proprietary drug delivery technologies and have fewer side effects, improved patient convenience and a better efficacy/safety balance than existing therapies. OctoPlus focuses on the development of long-acting, controlled release versions of known protein therapeutics, other drugs, and vaccines on behalf of its clients.

The clinically most advanced product incorporating our technology is Biolex Therapeutics’ lead product Locteron®, a controlled release formulation of interferon alpha for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C. OctoPlus licensed Locteron exclusively to Biolex in October 2008. Locteron is being manufactured for Biolex by OctoPlus and is currently in Phase IIb clinical studies.

In addition, OctoPlus is a leading European provider of advanced drug formulation and clinical scale manufacturing services to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, with a focus on difficult-to-formulate active pharmaceutical ingredients.

OctoPlus is listed on Euronext Amsterdam by NYSE Euronext under the symbol OCTO. For more information about OctoPlus, please visit our website www.octoplus.nl.

This document may contain certain forward-looking statements relating to the business, financial performance and results of OctoPlus and the industry in which it operates. These statements are based on OctoPlus’ current plans, estimates and projections, as well as its expectations of external conditions and events. In particular the words “expect”, “anticipate”, “predict”, “estimate”, “project”, “plan”, “may”, “should”, “would”, “will”, “intend”, “believe” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. We caution investors that a number of important factors, and the inherent risks and uncertainties that such statements involve, could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. In the event of any inconsistency between an English version and a Dutch version of this document, the English version will prevail over the Dutch version.