Inex shareholders OK spinoutSeptember 21, 2006Globe and Mail Canadian Press VANCOUVER — Shareholders of Inex Pharmaceuticals Corp. have approved its plan to spin out all of its technology, products, cash and partnerships into a new company, Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp., as part of a restructuring. “Tekmira will take advantage of the recent successes at Inex including the signing of two significant partnerships and the development of a promising oligonucleotide drug candidate,” president and CEO Timothy Ruane said in a statement. The Vancouver-based drug developer said Thursday that shareholders voted 99.3 per cent in favour of the plan, the closing of which requires court approval of the transfer of an ongoing lawsuit filed against Inex by previous spinoff Protiva Biotherapeutics Inc. to the new company. Inex said Thursday it expects the court hearings to take place before the end of October. “We are confident that we will be successful in having the ongoing legal dispute with Protiva transferred from Inex to Tekmira and we aim to close the transaction as soon as possible following the court decisions,” Mr. Ruane said. Protiva claims it is the clear leader in developing a technology for delivering small interfering RNA (siRNA) therapeutics that selectively prevent the production of disease-associated proteins or infectious agents. Spun off by Inex in 2001, Protiva has launched several lawsuits against Inex seeking orders recognizing that Inex lacks the rights it claims to have in Protiva's discoveries and challenging the spinout into Tekmira. Tekmira will be debt-free and maintain a product portfolio that includes partnerships with Hana Biosciences Inc. and Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. The agreement would also transfer all management and employees to Tekmira. The company has said this would allow Inex to complete $5.6-million in financing with an investment group led by Sheldon Reid, a co-founder of Energy Capitol Resources Ltd. The deal would give the investment group all non-voting shares in Inex and 80 per cent of the outstanding shares. |
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