Unigene To Present at the 2012 Obesity Society's 30th Annual Scientific Meeting

BOONTON, N.J., Sept. 20, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Unigene Laboratories, Inc. (OTCBB: UGNE), a leader in the design, delivery, manufacture and development of peptide-based therapeutics, today announced that its Chief Scientific Officer, Nozer Mehta, Ph.D., will present an update on UGP281, Unigene's novel anorexigenic peptide, at the 2012 Obesity Society's Annual Scientific Meeting in San Antonio.

Dr. Mehta's presentation, Recombinant Production, Oral Delivery and Preclinical Data on a Novel Anorexigenic Peptide UGP281, will be given on September 20, 2012 at 1:45 p.m. CT (2:45 p.m. ET) and will provide an overview of Unigene's peptide analog, UGP281, in development for the treatment of morbid obesity. The presentation will be part of a larger forum, entitled Pharmacologic and Device Session for Up and Coming Obesity Treatments. 

In addition to Dr. Mehta's oral lecture, Unigene will present a poster at the conference describing in greater detail its pre-clinical studies of UGP281.

"With the incidence of obesity and its associated co-morbidities such as type 2 diabetes quickly on the rise, there is a significant opportunity to leverage oral peptide technologies in helping address these issues," said Dr. Mehta.  "We are very encouraged by the promising preclinical data for UGP281 and believe it could offer a new, potentially high-value therapeutic for addressing morbid obesity."

UGP281, a potent anorexigenic peptide selectively targeting the amylin receptor, is under development by Unigene for the treatment of morbid obesity.  In multiple-dose pharmacology studies in animal models, UGP281, administered subcutaneously, produced an acute and dramatic reduction in food intake, and a sustained, dose-related decrease in body weight of 10-15%. These effects were achieved at relatively low doses, and were consistent with the targeted pharmacology. The efficacy of UGP281 was also demonstrated following oral delivery with Unigene's Peptelligence™ technology. UGP281 was well tolerated with no significant adverse findings in the studies conducted to date, and its therapeutic window appeared to be substantial.

About Unigene Laboratories, Inc.
Unigene Laboratories, Inc. is a leader in the design, delivery, manufacture and development of peptide-based therapeutics. The Company is building a robust portfolio of proprietary partnerships in this expanding drug class based on its Peptelligence™ platform.  Peptelligence™ encompasses extensive intellectual property covering drug delivery and manufacturing technologies, unsurpassed research and development expertise, and proprietary know-how representing a genuine distinctive competence.  Core Peptelligence™ assets include proprietary oral and nasal peptide drug delivery technologies, and proprietary, high-yield, scalable and reproducible E. coli-based manufacturing technologies.

Safe Harbor statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements relating to the timing of the commencement of Phase 1 clinical testing of UGP281 in humans, the risk of unwanted cardiovascular effects as compared to any other drug; whether the UGP281 preclinical results can be reproduced in humans, and if so, whether UGP281 could potentially offer a new treatment option; whether UGP281's selective receptor-binding will result in a cleaner and more attractive safety profile relative to any other drug; whether the Company can differentiate UPG281 from other potentially competitive, peptide-based drugs and drug candidates; whether the Company will be able to effectively develop UGP281 and position it in the marketplace; whether the Company will be able to successfully build a portfolio of proprietary partnerships based on its Peptelligence™ platform. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to certain risks, uncertainties, and assumptions that are difficult to predict. Therefore, our actual results could differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statements as a result of various risk factors. These known and unknown risk factors include, but are not limited to: the delay in obtaining or the failure to obtain regulatory approvals for our products and the products of our licensees that may generate royalty and milestone payments to us, our ability to achieve product sales and royalties, competition, our dependence on other companies to commercialize, manufacture and sell products using our technologies and our ability to enter into favorable new agreements with such companies, our ability to cut expenses and maintain efficiencies, our ability to enter into new financing arrangements,  the ability of our products to gain market acceptance and increase market share, the uncertainty of results of animal and human testing, the risk of product liability and liability for human clinical trials, our dependence on patents and other proprietary rights and the risks associated with patent litigation, dependence on key management officials, the availability and cost of capital, the availability of qualified personnel, changes in, or the failure to comply with, governmental regulations, general economic and business conditions, our history of losses and ability to achieve profitability, litigation and other risk factors discussed in our Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") filings, including our annual report on Form 10-K and our quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. Words such as "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "predicts," "believes," "seeks," "estimates," "may," "will," "should," "would," "potential," "continue," and variations of these words (or negatives of these words) or similar expressions, are intended to identify forward-looking statements, but are not the exclusive means of identifying forward-looking statements. In addition, any statements that refer to expectations, projections, contingencies, goals, targets or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements and are not statements of historical fact. Except as required by applicable law, including the securities laws of the United States and the rules and regulations of the SEC, we are under no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements after the date of this release.

For Investors & Media:
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Tiberend Strategic Advisors, Inc.
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SOURCE Unigene Laboratories, Inc.