Unilife Signs Clinical Development and Supply Agreement with Global Pharmaceutical Company

YORK, Pa., Nov. 29, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Unilife Corporation (NASDAQ: UNIS; ASX: UNS) today announced the signing of a clinical development and supply agreement with a global pharmaceutical company for a novel device for targeted organ delivery.  The proprietary Unilife device is intended to be used in a drug clinical trial that is scheduled to commence in early 2012. 

The terms of the agreement and the pharmaceutical company are to remain confidential at this time.  Unilife will receive $1.4 million in development fees and revenue from initial unit sales of the devices for the clinical trial under the first phase of this program. Upcoming phases of the clinical development program are expected to generate additional revenues for Unilife over the coming year.

Unilife Chief Executive Officer, Alan Shortall, stated, "Unilife is addressing the unmet needs of another global pharmaceutical company with the development of a technology that enables the delivery of a pipeline drug to a target organ of the human body. We look forward to supplying our device to the pharmaceutical customer for use in human drug clinical trials, and eventually for the commercial supply of the drug upon the successful completion of its clinical development and regulatory approval. 

"The economic opportunity is significant here. The target disease state has a high prevalence and affects a significant and growing proportion of people in the U.S. and around the world. The current annual treatment costs for the disease exceeds $30 billion in the U.S. alone. 

"This collaboration exemplifies our long-term growth strategy to develop innovative, differentiated devices that can enable and enhance the delivery of injectable drugs and vaccines, and uniquely position us for significant commercial supply opportunities in the long run.  Unilife is actively developing a number of additional innovative device solutions for this global pharmaceutical customer that can address the unmet needs of many of their other emerging injectable therapies. We expect to enter into additional development and commercial supply agreements with this pharmaceutical customer in the future," concluded Mr. Shortall.

Unilife Chief Operating Officer, Dr. Ramin Mojdeh, said, "This partnership demonstrates Unilife's capability in device innovation and its commitment to address the unmet needs of its customers in drug delivery.  The significance of this technology is in the new and novel route of administration we have developed in collaboration with our pharmaceutical partner. Our device enables the administration of a new molecule to a specific organ without surgery, helping to create a new class of therapies intended for direct organ delivery.  We have developed this device in record time.  Our customer is delighted, and we look forward to continuing to serve their many unmet needs with innovation and in accordance with their timelines."

About Unilife Corporation

Unilife Corporation (NASDAQ:UNIS / ASX: UNS) is a U.S. based developer and commercial supplier of advanced drug delivery systems. Unilife collaborates with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies seeking innovative, differentiated devices that can enable or enhance the delivery of injectable drugs and vaccines supplied in either a liquid stable or lyophilized form. The Unifill syringe, the world's first and only prefilled syringe with fully integrated safety features, sits at the leading edge of this diversified portfolio. In addition to prefilled and hypodermic safety syringes with automatic, user-controlled needle retraction, Unilife has other proprietary technology platforms including drug reconstitution delivery systems, auto-injectors, auto-infusion pump systems, specialized devices for targeted organ delivery. Unilife's global headquarters and state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities are located in York, PA. For more information on Unilife, please visit www.unilife.com 

This press release contains forward-looking statements. All statements that address operating performance, events or developments that we expect or anticipate will occur in the future are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on management's beliefs and assumptions and on information currently available to our management. Our management believes that these forward-looking statements are reasonable as and when made. However, you should not place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements because such statements speak only as of the date when made. We do not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. In addition, forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, events and developments to differ materially from our historical experience and our present expectations or projections. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those described in "Item 1A. Risk Factors" and elsewhere in our Annual Report on Form 10-K and those described from time to time in other reports which we file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

SOURCE Unilife Corporation