Corporate | 2 March 2005 16:29

Eckert & Ziegler AG Acquires Majority in Berlin Cyclotron Company

Corporate-news announcement sent by DGAP. The sender is solely responsible for the contents of this announcement. —————————————————————————— Eckert & Ziegler AG Acquires Majority in Berlin Cyclotron Company Berlin, March 2nd 2005. Eckert & Ziegler AG (ISIN DE0005659700), a specialist for radioactive medical products for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, has acquired 70% of EURO-PET Berlin Zyklotron GmbH in the process of an increase in their capital share. The Adlershof based cyclotron, founded several years ago by a number of nuclear medicine specialist, is licensed as a manufacturer of radiopharmaceuticals. It manufactures radioactive tracers for PET examinations, a procedure that is becoming more and more important for the diagnosis of cancer. “The cyclotron and the associated radiopharmaceutical laboratory give us the opportunity, in the medium term, to supply generics radiopharmaceuticals and inlicensed nuclear medicine products through our European sales network “, explains EZAG board member Dr. Andreas Hey. “We have already succeeded in securing European sales rights for a first generic radiopharmaceutical. However, before we can achieve turnover and yields, we will have to complete the European approval and market introduction process. For this reason we only expect EURO-PET to make a small contribution to our turnover this year, and possibly even contribute to earnings with a slight loss. Yet the situation could improve rapidly as soon as a reimbursement of the costs for PET examinations is introduced in Germany. This would automatically lead to a higher demand for PET contrast agents.” PET diagnosis is standard practice in all European countries and North America and is paid for by the social health systems if significant indications exist. Germany is the only country where this examination is restricted to private patients. However, a state-insured patient succeeded at the highest German social court in October 2004 to gain access to this process. When founding the judgement, the Leipzig judges reprimanded a failure of the system because the legally planned acceptance procedure by the Common Federal Committee of Doctors and Health Insurance in Germany was not carried out or was not carried out early enough. Therefore it is reckoned that sooner or later PET examinations will also be paid for by the state medical insurance system. PET is the abbreviation of positron-emission tomography and describes a technique which uses a special camera to make the very smallest quantities of a slightly radioactive contrast agent visible and it is used for diagnosis. The Executive Board Your contact for enquiries: Eckert & Ziegler AG, Karolin Riehle, Investor Relations Robert-Rössle-Str. 10, D-13125 Berlin Tel.: +49 (0) 30 / 94 10 84-138 http://www.ezag.de end of message, (c)DGAP 02.03.2005 —————————————————————————— WKN: 565970; ISIN: DE0005659700; Index: Listed: Geregelter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr in Berlin- Bremen, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Hannover und Stuttgart 021629 Mär 05