Pharming announces commitment to build a new downstream manufacturing facility for RUCONEST®

LEIDEN, The Netherlands, Nov. 19, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Pharming Group N.V. (Euronext Amsterdam: PHARM) announces it has committed to building a new facility to expand the Company's downstream processing capacity for its lead product, RUCONEST® (recombinant C1 esterase inhibitor (rhC1INH)).

The downstream processing facility will include the purification, filtration and concentration of the starting material. Construction is planned to begin mid-2021 at Pivot Park in Oss, the Netherlands. Pivot Park is also the location of BioConnection B.V., Pharming's contracted fill and finish facility, in which Pharming holds a minority stake.  

At Pivot Park, Pharming will move into a new, sustainable, five-story building with a total floor space of approximately 4,000 m². The building has been specially designed for the company and is located in a prominent position on the site. It is the first new building on the campus and CEO Drees hopes many more will follow. Pharming's arrival at Pivot Park will create at least 40 new jobs in Oss.

Sijmen de Vries, Chief Executive Officer of Pharming, said:

"With an increasing demand for RUCONEST® for the treatment of hereditary angioedema and an increasing need for rhC1INH in our clinical trials in new, large indications, we continue to invest in expanding our in-house processing capabilities as part of our strategy to deliver long-term growth. We look forward to initiating construction on the new facility mid-2021."

Brigitte Drees, Chief Executive Officer of Pivot Park, said:

"Pharming is an asset to our campus. On the one hand because the company is an established name in the pharmaceutical industry. On the other hand, because it fosters open innovation and knowledge sharing, just like the more than sixty companies that are already established here. You can be sure that Pharming will soon feel at home in our community. And that we will facilitate the company in its development."

About Pharming Group N.V.

Pharming Group N.V. is a global, commercial stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative protein replacement therapies and precision medicines for the treatment of rare diseases and unmet medical needs.

The flagship of our portfolio is our recombinant human C1 esterase inhibitor, or rhC1INH, franchise. C1INH is a naturally occurring protein that downregulates the complement cascade in order to control swelling in affected tissues.

Our lead product, RUCONEST® is the first and only plasma-free rhC1INH protein replacement therapy. It is approved for the treatment of acute hereditary angioedema, or HAE, attacks. We are commercializing RUCONEST® in the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom through our own sales and marketing organization, and the rest of the world through our distribution network.

We are also developing rhC1INH for subsequent indications, including pre-eclampsia, acute kidney injury and we also investigating the clinical efficacy of rhC1INH in COVID-19.

In addition, we are studying our oral precision medicine, leniolisib (a phosphoinositide 3-kinase delta, or PI3K delta, inhibitor), for the treatment of activated PI3K delta syndrome, or APDS, in a registration enabling Phase 2/3 study in the US and Europe.

Furthermore, we are also leveraging our transgenic manufacturing technology to develop next-generation protein replacement therapies most notably for Pompe disease, which program is currently in the preclinical stage.

About Pivot Park

Pharming settles at Pivot Park in Oss (Noord-Brabant). This life sciences campus was founded in 2012 to connect companies and knowledge institutes that focus on innovations in drug development. Both start-ups and scale-ups will find all the knowledge and resources they need to accelerate their business growth. With more than 60 companies and over 600 professionals contributing to drug discovery and development every day, Pivot Park is now the hotspot for pharmaceutical innovation in Europe.

At Pivot Park, Pharming will move into a new, sustainable, five-story building with a total floor space of approximately 4,000 m². The building has been specially designed for the company and is located in a prominent position on the site. It is the first new building on the campus and CEO Drees hopes many more will follow. Pharming's arrival at Pivot Park will create some thirty new jobs in Oss.

Forward-looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including with respect to timing and progress of Pharming's preclinical studies and clinical trials of its product candidates, Pharming's clinical and commercial prospects, Pharming's ability to overcome the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic to the conduct of its business, and Pharming's expectations regarding its projected working capital requirements and cash resources, which statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including, but not limited to the scope, progress and expansion of Pharming's clinical trials and ramifications for the cost thereof; and clinical, scientific, regulatory and technical developments. In light of these risks and uncertainties, and other risks and uncertainties that are described in Pharming's 2019 Annual Report and its report for the six months ended 30 June 2020, the events and circumstances discussed in such forward-looking statements may not occur, and Pharming's actual results could differ materially and adversely from those anticipated or implied thereby. Any forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release and are based on information available to Pharming as of the date of this release.

Inside Information

This press release relates to the disclosure of information that qualifies, or may have qualified, as inside information within the meaning of Article 7(1) of the EU Market Abuse Regulation.

For further public information, contact:

Pharming Group, Leiden, The Netherlands
Sijmen de Vries, CEO: T: +31 71 524 7400
Susanne Embleton, Investor Relations Manager: T: +31 71 524 7400 E: investor@pharming.com

FTI Consulting, London, UK
Victoria Foster Mitchell/Alex Shaw/Mary Whittow
T: +44 203 727 1000

LifeSpring Life Sciences Communication, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Leon Melens
T: +31 6 53 81 64 27 E: pharming@lifespring.nl

Pivot Park, Oss, The Netherlands
Charlotte Landesbergen, Marketing Communication Manager:
T: +31 (0)412 846 010 E: charlotte.landesbergen@pviotpark.com