Company

mondoBIOTECH holding AG (SIX: RARE) (the "Company") announces today that its 5th ordinary shareholders' meeting will be held on 3 May 2012 at 11.00 a.m. (CET) at the Company's headquarters at Mürgstrasse 18, in 6370 Stans, Switzerland.

The invitation to the ordinary shareholders' meeting is available on the Company's website under http://www.mondobiotech.com/investor/shareholders-meeting.

Financial Results 2011

Global overview
The mondoBIOTECH Group (the “Group”) did not generate revenues in the year ended on 31 December 2011 (2010: CHF 0.39m), as the clinical trial services associated with a licensing of one of its Medicinal Product Candidates were concluded in 2010 and in 2011 the Group has not concluded any new licensing agreement. The operating expenses added up to CHF 59.2 million (2010: CHF 19.62 million) for the same period of which 92% derived from research and development activities which in accordance with IFRS were not capitalized, 3% from sales and marketing and 5% from management and administration. It is worth noticing that the operating expenses include the amount of CHF 46.01 million for impairment on intangible assets, related to certain IP rights no longer in use by the Group and of zero market value. Net of said impairment, the operating expenses amounted to CHF 13.15 million, thus showing a significant decrease (-34%) on the previous year, as a result of the austerity measures, which have been implemented in the course of the year.
The net loss amounted to CHF 59.2 million (2010: CHF 19.4 million) representing a basic and diluted loss per Share of CHF 0.864 (2010: 0.292).

On 13th April 2011, the Company closed a round of fundraising for a gross contribution of CHF 8.08 million. In addition to that, on 14th November 2011, the Company was granted a subordinated credit facility of CHF 2.5 million by its largest shareholder, BioPharma Invest AG.

On 24th November the Company announced the implementation of a strict austerity plan, consisting on certain restructuring measures including the reduction of its total workforce by more than 50% and the dismissal of its Viglio and Basel offices, as well as the disposal of assets considered not strategic by the current management, such as the two aircrafts acquired in 2007 and 2008.

The said austerity plan allows the continuation of the Group as a going concern, considered that the cash and cash equivalents at year end, in addition to the credit facility mentioned above, are sufficient to finance its actual level of activities for at least twelve months.

In 2012, the Group will concentrate its activity on its existing pipeline of Medicinal Product Candidates (“MPCs”), intensifying its effort to conclude licensing agreements aimed at developing such MPCs for being approved for marketing. In addition, the Group will also focus on expanding the potentialities and the economic applications of its “Search and Match” powerful bio-mathematical drug discovery engine.

On 1 March 2012, the Company announced that it has entered into exclusive negotiations with Pierrel S.p.A, Italy (“Pierrel”) with regard to a potential business combination of the Contract Research Organization (“CRO”) of Pierrel with mondoBIOTECH. According to a non-binding letter of intent signed by the parties, the business combination would be structured by way of a contribution in kind of 100% of the share capital of Pierrel Research International AG which is the CRO holding company, fully owned by Pierrel, into the capital of mondoBIOTECH, through a dedicated capital increase of the latter. The exchange ratio of the potential business combination shall be determined through an independent valuation of both mondoBIOTECH and Pierrel Research International AG. It is envisaged by Pierrel that upon the completion of the envisaged transaction it would hold a strong majority of the share capital and votes in mondoBIOTECH. The potential business combination will be subject, among others, to the successful conclusion of negotiations with regard to a binding agreement as well as to approval by the shareholders of mondoBIOTECH and, respectively, corporate bodies of mondoBIOTECH and Pierrel.

Nevertheless, the Group remains subject to various risks and uncertainties, including but not limited to the timing of achieving profitability and to continue its operations, which depends – among others - on its ability to raise additional capital until revenues reach a level to sustain positive cash flows.

Revenues
The Company has not generated revenues in 2011, as the clinical trial services conducted in the past years for a commercial partner were concluded in the 2010 and also revenues from licensing agreements were not generated during the course of 2011.

Research and development
Research and development expenses, net of the above described impairment of IP rights for CHF 46.01 million, decreased from CHF 14.54 million in 2010 to CHF 8.69 million in 2011, as a result of the cost saving measures adopted in the course of the year 2011.

Sales and Marketing
Sales and marketing expenses have been reduced from CHF 3.40 million in 2010 to CHF 1.8 million in 2011.

Management and administration
Management and administration have been increased from 1.7 million in 2010 to CHF 2.7 million in 2011. The increase is mainly attributable to higher costs for professional services and partly related to (i) an acquisition project which could not materialize due to financial market conditions not allowing to raise the necessary financial resources, and (ii) partly to legal advice necessary to settle a number of potential disputes arising from past contracts and commitments no longer deemed strategic by the current management. It is worth mentioning that said settlements allowed for a reduction of future contingent liabilities for a total amount of more than CHF 6 million.

The annual report 2011 is available here.

Proposal for elections in the Board of Directors
The Board of Directors of the Company proposes that Robert Edward Patterson, Prinz Michael von und zu Liechtenstein, Graf Francis von Seilern-Aspang, Prof. Michael Alan Keller, Marc Häsler, Vincenzo Romano and Ruggero Gramatica are re-elected as members of the Board of Directors for one-year mandate.