ThromboGenics

21.08.2008

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I Eye disease I Thrombotic disease

Thrombotic disease

Thrombosis (blood clot formation) is a major cause of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Prevention and treatment of thrombosis has become one of the most important areas in which the pharmaceutical market is addressing cardiovascular disease.

Thrombosis is the formation or presence of a blood clot inside a blood vessel or cavity of the heart. The formation of a blood clot is induced by the clumping of blood platelets followed by the formation of a fibrin network. In addition to the damage that the clot can cause at the site of its formation, it can also break loose and travel through the blood stream to the brain causing a stroke, to the heart causing heart attacks, or to the lungs causing a pulmonary embolism.

ThromboGenics believes that there is a substantial unmet clinical need for a safer and more effective thrombolytic treatments for stroke, PAOD and DVT, and believes that microplasmin, on the basis of current data, is well positioned to address this need.

Unique mode of action

The main objective when treating thrombotic diseases such as stroke is to unblock the blood vessel as quickly as possible. However, all thrombolytic agents currently available do not always offer an optimal solution as they normally take too long to dissolve the clot and are often associated with significant complications such as unwanted bleeding (hemorrhage). Microplasmin’s mode of action differs from most other thrombolytics in development and on the market; it is a direct acting thrombolytic while most other thrombolytics are plasminogen activators (PAs), which convert plasminogen into plasmin, its active form. PAs rely on the presence of plasminogen in the thrombus and in the blood, and therefore their action depends on multiple factors. Direct acting thrombolytics do not suffer from these potential drawbacks. This difference in mode of action is thought to be particularly critical in older clots, which can become resistant to indirect acting thrombolytics as the amount of plasminogen decreases in these clots. The Company believes that this direct mode of action will enable microplasmin to dissolve clots more predictably, efficiently and quickly than indirect thrombolytics.

Stroke

The Company is currently conducting a Phase II clinical trial with microplasmin in stroke with the goal of investigating the safety, tolerability and initial activity of microplasmin. The study is randomized versus placebo and conducted in 40 patients that present to the hospital between 4 and 12 hours after onset of their stroke, a timeframe for which currently none of the thrombolytic drugs has been approved.

In addition, ThromboGenics is currently conducting multiple Phase II trials, including trials in acute Peripheral Arterial Occlusive Disease (PAOD) and Deep Vein Thrombosis (DVT). In 2006, ThromboGenics was granted FDA orphan drug designation for microplasmin use in the treatment of acute PAOD.

For an overview of the different trials, please visit www.clinicaltrials.gov

Last update: April 14, 2008

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