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In the initial investment, Invus will purchase approximately 50.8 millionshares of Lexicon common stock for approximately $205 million, representing aweighted-average purchase price of approximately $4.04 per share. The initialInvus investment is expected to close on August 28th. As part of the approvedtransaction, Lexicon stockholders, including Invus, may invest an additional$345 million over the next four years. These combined common stock purchaseswill provide Lexicon with operating capital of up to approximately $550million to help it achieve the goals set forth in its 10 to 10 drug discoveryand development program.
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The 10 to 10 program is an ongoing initiative to advance 10 drugcandidates into human clinical trials by the end of 2010. Lexicon expectsthese ten investigational new drugs to result from its genetics-based drugdiscovery platform and to include both small molecules and antibodies. Thecompany plans to develop and commercialize its products either independentlyor under corporate alliances. Lexicon currently has two investigational newdrugs in human clinical trials and anticipates initiating human testing of twoadditional compounds in the first quarter of 2008.
"The Invus transaction provides the financial flexibility to fund ourdiscovery and development pipeline, expand our internal clinical andregulatory capabilities, and enable our pursuit of a commercialization andcollaboration strategy that maximizes our value and is less subject toshort-term financing pressures," said Arthur T. Sands, M.D., Ph.D., founder,president and chief executive officer of Lexicon. "We are in a very strongfinancial position to advance the development of our discoveries into multipleinvestigational new drugs."
"We are committing substantial capital and support to enable Lexicon todevelop a diverse and full pipeline of novel drugs that address large marketsand major unmet medical needs based on their proprietary platform," saidRaymond Debbane, founder and president of The Invus Group, LLC. "We lookforward to helping the company implement its strategy over the years to come."
More details of the Invus transaction may be found in Lexicon's proxystatement filed with the SEC on July 20, 2007.
About Lexicon Pharmaceuticals
Lexicon Pharmaceuticals is a biopharmaceutical company focused on thediscovery and development of breakthrough treatments for human disease.Lexicon currently has development programs underway for such areas of majorunmet medical need as irritable bowel syndrome and cognitive disorders. Thecompany has used its proprietary gene knockout technology to discover morethan 100 promising drug targets and create an extensive pipeline of clinicaland preclinical programs in the therapeutic areas of diabetes and obesity,cardiovascular disease, psychiatric and neurological disorders, cancer, immunesystem disorders and ophthalmic disease. To advance the development andcommercialization of its programs, Lexicon is working both independently andthrough collaborators including Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Genentech, Inc.and N.V. Organon. For additional information about Lexicon and its programs,please visit http://www.lexpharma.com.
About Invus Group
Invus is a New York-based investment firm with additional offices inLondon and Paris. Invus invests in a variety of equity transactions,including buyouts, longer term public equity investments, venture capital, andexpansion financings. Invus manages in excess of $4 billion of capital.Invus has achieved both cash on cash multiples and annual internal rates ofreturn over 22 years th
