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°®¶¹´«Ã½. (Headquarters: Tokyo, President and CEO: Haruo Naito, “Eisai”) announced today that the company has signed a license agreement with Almirall, S.A. (Headquarters: Barcelona, Spain, Chairman and Managing Director: Jorge Gallardo, “Almirall”) concerning the development, manufacturing and marketing of the gastroprokinetic agent cinitapride tartrate (generic name).

Under the terms of the agreement, Eisai shall obtain from Almirall the exclusive rights to develop, manufacture and market cinitapride in China. This will be the second agreement that Eisai and Almirall have signed following the agreement concluded in 2001 concerning the antiallergic agent Kestine (generic name: ebastine), also for China.

Cinitapride. coming from Almirall’s R&D, is an orthopramide with prokinetic activity on the gastrointestinal tract with marked procholinergic action that improves gastrointestinal motility. By blocking the presynaptic serotonin receptors, serotonin release is increased, thus enhancing serotonergic activity. Its antidopaminergic activity also contributes to stimulate the release of acetylcholine by blocking dopamine receptors, thereby improves upper gastrointestinal function. In Spain, cinitapride is indicated for treating mild to moderate dysmotility-type dyspepsia and also as an adjunctive therapy for gastroesophageal reflux disease in patients for whom the proton pump inhibitor has shown to be insufficient.

Eisai considers China as one of the Company’s focused regions with high growth potential and is working to expand business that addresses not only its global areas of therapeutic focus, but also its franchise tailored to the local disease structures in China. Gastrointenstinal franchise is one such areas, and the addition of cinitapride will further strengthen the Company’s existing gastrointestinal product portfolio together with the currently marketed gastritis/gastric ulcer treatment Selbex® and hepatic disease/allergic disease agents Stronger Neo-Minophagen C® and Glycyron® Tablets, as well as two pipeline products, chronic hepatitis B treatment Clevudine and branched-chain amino acid formula Livact® Granules.

Eisai will continue to work closely with Almirall on the development of cinitapride with the hope of delivering the compound to patients in China in a timely manner.

Almirall is an international pharmaceutical company based on innovation and committed to health. Headquartered in Barcelona, Spain, it researches, develops, manufactures and commercializes its own R&D and licensed drugs with the aim of improving people’s health and well-being. The therapeutic areas on which Almirall focuses its research resources are related to the treatment of asthma, COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease), rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, psoriasis and other dermatological conditions. Almirall’s products are currently present in over 70 countries while it has direct presence in Europe and Latin America through 11 affiliates.

For more information on Almirall, please visit the website at: www.almirall.com