Nuvo and Paladin amend licensing agreements

The existing Canadian Pennsaid Plus license between Nuvo and Squire has been amended to grant Squire the right to market, distribute and sell Pennsaid Plus in South Africa and Israel, and if certain conditions are met, Central and South America.

Nuvo will receive royalties in respect of any sales of Pennsaid Plus by Squire in these additional territories. Pennsaid Plus is an improved gel version of Pennsaid that requires less frequent dosing.

Paladin’s wholly owned subsidiary, Squire Pharmaceuticals, has made a $2.5 million payment to Nuvo in lieu of future payments relating to Canadian sales of Pennsaid accruing prior to January 1, 2011. In addition, Squire will pay Nuvo a royalty on future Canadian sales of Pennsaid occurring after January 1, 2011.

Squire has also invested $2 million in Nuvo by way of a two-year convertible debenture. The new debenture bears interest at 8% per annum and is convertible into Nuvo common shares at a price of $0.1380.

John London, Nuvo’s vice chairman, said: “We continue to complete the non-clinical studies to respond to the FDA’s December, 2006 approvable letter, and have started to prepare our Pennsaid resubmission, which we expect to file with the FDA in early 2009. This would lead to an expected response from the FDA in the third quarter of 2009. The funds will also allow us to continue to develop our early stage transdermal pipeline.”