The Management Board and the Supervisory Board of the drug discovery and development company 4SC AG (Frankfurt, Prime Standard: VSC), with its headquarters in Martinsried, Germany, today published their joint statement on the public mandatory offer of Santo Holding (Deutschland) GmbH pursuant to Section 27 (1) of the German Securities Acquisition and Takeover Act (WpÜG). In the statement, both boards maintain that the offer complies with the legal requirements. Nevertheless, the Management Board and the Supervisory Board of 4SC AG advise the shareholders against accepting this offer. Their reasons are explained in detail in the statement published on the Internet at http://www.4sc.com (available only in German language). The announcement is also published in today's edition of the electronic Federal Gazette ( Elektronischer Bundesanzeiger).
The acceptance period started on publication of the offer document on 3 December 2007 on the Internet at http://www.rp-richter.de/... and will end on 8 January 2008 at 24:00 hours (CET).
"Irrespective of the mandatory offer, we are happy about the investment of Santo Holding", says Dr Ulrich Dauer, CEO of 4SC AG. "The introduction of this financially strong, industry-experienced investor opens the door to entirely new opportunities in connection with our future activities in the research and development of innovative drug candidates."
However, the engagement of the brothers Dr Thomas and Dr Andreas Strüngmann at 4SC AG was only one of the company's highlights in recent months. Just recently, 4SC AG was happy to announce a major success based on the results of its clinical phase IIa study involving the drug candidate SC12267: the substance exhibited a very promising efficacy on patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. Following initial discussions of these study data with the pharmaceutical industry, the Management is confident: "Following the completion of the study, the interest in this drug candidate increased substantially", explains Dauer. "We are optimistic that we will soon be able to present our shareholders with a suitable licence partner for this project."
The bolstered financial situation of 4SC AG will also enable the company to make progress in other projects. For instance, four other 4SC AG projects that are currently subject to advanced preclinical studies are scheduled for rapid further development towards clinical studies.
"The establishment and further development of a comprehensive, effective project pipeline with drug candidates that are attractive for the pharmaceutical industry will remain the primary goal of 4SC AG, and a major lever for further increasing the company value", stressed Dauer.
The acceptance period started on publication of the offer document on 3 December 2007 on the Internet at http://www.rp-richter.de/... and will end on 8 January 2008 at 24:00 hours (CET).
"Irrespective of the mandatory offer, we are happy about the investment of Santo Holding", says Dr Ulrich Dauer, CEO of 4SC AG. "The introduction of this financially strong, industry-experienced investor opens the door to entirely new opportunities in connection with our future activities in the research and development of innovative drug candidates."
However, the engagement of the brothers Dr Thomas and Dr Andreas Strüngmann at 4SC AG was only one of the company's highlights in recent months. Just recently, 4SC AG was happy to announce a major success based on the results of its clinical phase IIa study involving the drug candidate SC12267: the substance exhibited a very promising efficacy on patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. Following initial discussions of these study data with the pharmaceutical industry, the Management is confident: "Following the completion of the study, the interest in this drug candidate increased substantially", explains Dauer. "We are optimistic that we will soon be able to present our shareholders with a suitable licence partner for this project."
The bolstered financial situation of 4SC AG will also enable the company to make progress in other projects. For instance, four other 4SC AG projects that are currently subject to advanced preclinical studies are scheduled for rapid further development towards clinical studies.
"The establishment and further development of a comprehensive, effective project pipeline with drug candidates that are attractive for the pharmaceutical industry will remain the primary goal of 4SC AG, and a major lever for further increasing the company value", stressed Dauer.
