Geneva, Switzerland, 21 May 2007 - Addex Pharmaceuticals Ltd (SWX:ADXN), a pharmaceutical company developing allosteric modulators, a different kind of small molecule therapeutic, announced  today that it priced its initial public offering and will list on the SWX Swiss Exchange tomorrow. Addex will raise CHF136.9 million ($111.3 million / €82.7 million), without the 15% overallotment option. The shares priced at CHF73, near the top of the CHF58 - CHF75 range, announced on May 9. The offering was over 4 times oversubscribed and included a diverse group of Swiss and international investors.

Shares in Addex will begin trading tomorrow on the SWX Swiss Exchange main board under the ticker symbol ADXN. Closing and delivery of the shares against payment of the offer price is expected to occur on May 25, 2007.

The company issued 1,875,000 new shares, resulting in a free float of about 32% of the issued share capital after the offering, excluding the overallotment. The company now has 5,862,492 shares outstanding and the market capitalization is CHF428.0 million ($347.9 million / €258.4 million) at the offer price and without the overallotment.

Vincent Mutel, CEO and co-founder of Addex, commented: "The success of our IPO is a clear mandate for us to bring our allosteric modulators to patients. We are looking forward to advancing our entire pipeline of 3 products in human testing and 8 preclinical programs, placing emphasis on our lead compound, ADX10059 – which already has shown some efficacy in separate Phase IIa trials for GERD and migraine."

Tim Dyer, CFO and co-founder of Addex, added: “This capital increase allows us to pursue our expansion strategy and continue building a sustainable pharmaceutical business around our allosteric modulator platform.”

Lehman Brothers International (Europe), the sole global coordinator and bookrunner, may exercise an overallotment option of up to 15% of the number of shares offered or 281,250 additional new shares. If fully exercised at the IPO price, the overallotment option could raise about an additional CHF 20.5 million ($16.7 million / €12.4 million), bringing the total free float to about 35% of the issued share capital and the market capitalization to CHF448.5 million ($364.4 million / €270.8million), at the offer price.

Piper Jaffray was senior co-lead manager, with Bank Vontobel and Bank am Bellevue acting as co-lead managers.

The IPO consisted of a public offering in Switzerland and private placements to institutional investors in other parts of the world. Bookbuilding started on May 9 and ended today, May 21. The Addex offering attracted a broad range of investors from many parts of the world, including Switzerland and the European Union.

Addex, which had CHF 34.2 million ($27.8 million / €20.6 million) in cash as of March 31, intends to use the proceeds of its IPO to advance its clinical stage products, accelerate the ongoing preclinical development of new allosteric modulators and scale up its drug discovery efforts. A portion of the proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes.
 

About Addex

Addex Pharmaceuticals SA (www.addexpharma.com) discovers and develops allosteric modulators. Allosteric modulators are a different kind of small molecule therapeutic because they use a more subtle mechanism compared to most marketed drugs. The allosteric modulator discovery platform is broadly applicable and scaleable and can address targets that have not been accessible to classical approaches. The discovery platform has been validated through the signature of an ongoing collaboration with a member of the Johnson & Johnson group to discover and develop allosteric modulators to treat anxiety and schizophrenia.

The most advanced proprietary allosteric modulator drug candidate, ADX10059, has successfully completed two Phase IIa clinical trials and demonstrated clinically and statistically significant efficacy in both gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and migraine. Another phase IIa clinical trial with ADX10059 in acute anxiety is expected to be completed in the second half of 2007. The company has an inlicensed product, ADX10061, in a U.S. Phase IIa clinical trial for smoking cessation. A third product, ADX48621 is in Phase I clinical testing and may be developed to treat depression, anxiety and inflammatory pain.

Addex has eight products in preclinical development, including allosteric modulators of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor for diabetes and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) receptor for fertility. Other preclinical programs address targets implicated in Parkinson’s disease, cognitive impairment, schizophrenia and inflammatory pain. Addex employs about 70 individuals and is located in Geneva, Switzerland.

For further information, please contact:

Addex Pharmaceuticals Ltd 
Chris Maggos
Head of Investor Relations & Communications
+41 22 884 1511 direct
+41 79 367 6254 mobile
+41 22 884 1556 fax
chris.maggos(at)addexpharma.com    

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