Intellect Neurosciences completes restructuring of balance sheet

Intellect Neurosciences, Inc. (OTCBB:ILNS), a biopharmaceutical company focused on development of disease-modifying therapeutic agents for Alzheimer's disease ("AD"), announced today it has completed a restructuring of its balance sheet. The result is the extinguishment of approximately $24 million of aggregate face amount plus accrued interest of debt and preferred stock through the issuance of common stock. Further, several of Intellect's significant shareholders have collectively provided sufficient funds to support the Company's core operations for the next 12 months. 

"Our stakeholders recognize the value proposition inherent in Intellect's intellectual property and pipeline programs," said Daniel Chain, PhD., Intellect's Chairman and CEO. "This financial restructuring is a tremendous accomplishment, opening up exciting new strategic opportunities to develop our internal drug development pipeline. We are pleased that our largest shareholders have provided us immediate financial resources to sustain our operations for the next twelve months and are committed to continue to support the Company. The immediate cash infusion and our shareholders' financial commitment should enable the Company to maintain operations through completion of Phase 3 trials for Bapineuzumab."

Bapineuzumab is a monoclonal antibody being co-developed by Wyeth/Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson under a royalty-bearing license from Intellect. If successful in the trials, Bapineuzumab could be approved for sale as the first disease-modifying drug for Alzheimer's disease, with the potential to slow down or arrest disease progression. Leading analysts have concluded that Bapineuzumab has blockbuster potential that may reach several billion in annual worldwide sales. 

A report in this month's issue of the medical journal Lancet Neurology (Vol. 9, Issue 4, Pages 363-372, and April 2010) indicates that Alzheimer's patients receiving Bapineuzumab show a significant reduction in amyloid plaques.

Dr. Chain is the inventor of the Company's ANTISENILIN® monoclonal antibody technology, for which patents have been granted in Europe, Japan, China and elsewhere.  Patent applications are pending in the United States. Intellect granted a royalty-bearing license to Wyeth and Elan International Ltd. in 2008.  Elan, through an affiliate, assigned the license to Janssen AI, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, in 2009.  Intellect entered into a second royalty-bearing license agreement with an undisclosed top tier global pharmaceutical company in January 2009, and granted an option to purchase a license to GlaxoSmithKline in April 2009.