History

• May 1998: A Merck KGaA team led by Dr Achim Schäffler and Jochen Mattis initiates development of Lodotra^™, a night time release formulation of prednisone treating rheumatoid arthritis (RA)
• 1998: Start of collaboration with SkyePharma for technical development
• 2000: Proof of concept in man for Lodotra^™ achieved at the Charité in Berlin
• 2001-2003: Positive results in three pharmacokinetic studies
• July 2004: Nitec Pharma is spun-out from Merck KGaA
  • Headquarter established in Reinach, within the Basel Region of Switzerland with R&D site in Mannheim/Germany
  • Venture Capital groups Atlas Venture and Global Life Science Ventures finance Nitec Pharma through a US$ 10m Series A round of financing
• August 2004: Start of phase 3 clinical trial for Lodotra^™
• September 2006: Lodotra^™ successfully completes European phase 3 clinical trials and product is filed for registration in 15 European countries
• March 2007: Venture Capital groups NGN Capital, Atlas Venture and Global Life Science Ventures subscribe to a CHF 32m (approx. USD 26m) Series B round of financing
• July 2007: Lodotra^™ IND filed for additional trials in the US
• August 2007: two agreements signed with SkyePharma: a) manufacturing and supply agreement; b) license extended to include worldwide exclusive rights to the use of any oral glucocorticoids in combination with SkyePharma’s GeoClock technology
• August 2007: Anders Härfstrand appointed CEO and Andrea Buscaglia appointed CFO
• November 2007: Nitec in-licenses TruNoc (tarenflurbil) from PAZ GmbH