U.S. deal sparks leap for Inex January 10, 2007 Vancouver Sun By Fiona Anderson BIOTECH Shares of Inex Pharmaceuticals Corp. jumped 77 per cent in heavy trading Tuesday on news that the Burnaby-based company has entered into a $17 million US deal with Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. Massachusetts-based Alnylam w i l l ga i n exc l u s ive r i g h t s to Inex’s technology for delivering Alnylam’s drugs that specifically target, and silence, disease-causing genes. Alnylam will pay Inex $8 million US immediately plus another $4 million for research and development to improve its lipidbased delivery system and a $5 million loan for equipment to provide manufacturing services to Alnylam. Inex will also be entitled to milestone payments up to $1 3 million US for every drug Alnylam or its partners produce using Inex’s delivery system. In addition, Inex will be entitled to use Alnylam’s technology to develop three of its own drugs. It’s a great deal for Inex, which gains money to develop its own products while enjoying the success of Alnylam, Inex CFO Ian Mortimer said in an interview. “So we’ve really set the company [up] both for near-term financial stability and also with an ability to generate cash in the future as all these products move into development,” he said. The deal is the latest good news for previously troubled Inex, whose fortunes starting turning when it licensed its anticancer drug Marqibo to Hana Biosciences Inc. last March for $11.5 million US. The only complication may be a lawsuit brought against Inex by former subsidiary Protiva Biotherapeutics, which claims a right to Inex’s delivery technology. But Inex president and CEO Ti m o t hy Ru a n e sa i d t h e d e a l with Alnylam shows that “a very sophisticated company,” has confidence in Inex’s contractual ability. Analyst Brian Bapty of Raymond James said Inex “is definitely emerging from a very troubled 2005 to a constructive 2006 to hopefully a 2007 with further positive momentum.” “When you do a deal with an internationally recognized company and you get a material upfront payment, it’s going to turn a few heads,” Bapty said. Inex shares closed at $0.62 on the TSX on Tuesday, with 5.7 million shares trading, up from $0.35 on Monday.

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