Copenhagen, 2012-03-29 11:15 CEST (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Company Announcement

No. 10/2012

Copenhagen, 29 March 2012 – Zealand Pharma A/S (NASDAQ OMX Copenhagen: ZEAL), a
Danish biotechnology company dedicated to the innovation and development of
peptide drugs, convenes for the company’s Annual General Meeting for 2012. 

  1. The ordinary Annual General Meeting will be held on: 



Wednesday 25 April 2012 at 3.00pm CET,



at the company’s offices,  Smedeland 36, 2600 Glostrup, Denmark.



The notice for the Annual General Meeting including the full agenda is enclosed
as appendix to this announcement. 



  1. Board of Directors – proposed change in composition 



All current board members elected by the Annual General Meeting in 2011 are up
for election. The board of directors proposes re-election of: 



  -- Daniël Jan Ellens
  -- Jørgen Lindegaard
  -- Peter Benson
  -- Alain Munoz
  -- Florian Reinaud
  -- Jutta af Rosenborg



In addition, the board of directors proposes that Michael J. Owen is elected as
new board member. Michael J. Owen has extensive research experience and has
held leading positions in both pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. The
board believes that Michael J. Owen will make important and valuable
contributions to the further development of Zealand Pharma A/S. For further
information on the background of the proposed new board member, please see
Exhibit 1 to the notice for the Annual General Meeting 2012 (enclosed). 



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For further information, please contact:

David Horn Solomon, President and Chief Executive Officer

Tel: +45 2220 6300



Hanne Leth Hillman, Vice President for IR & Corporate Communication

Tel: +45 5060 3689, email: hlh@zealandpharma.com



About Zealand Pharma

Zealand Pharma A/S is a public (NASDAQ OMX: ZEAL) biotechnology company based
in Copenhagen, Denmark with a mature clinical pipeline of innovative peptide
drugs. The company's lead invention is lixisenatide (Lyxumia® 1)), a once-daily
GLP-1 agonist licensed to Sanofi for the treatment of Type 2 diabetes. In
October, Sanofi submitted a marketing authorization application (MAA) for
lixisenatide in Europe and submission for regulatory approval in the United
States is expected in Q4 2012. Zealand Pharma also has a collaboration with
Boehringer Ingelheim covering dual acting glucagon/GLP-1 agonists, including
ZP2929, for the treatment of diabetes and obesity, and a license agreement with
Helsinn Healthcare on elsiglutide, a clinical stage GLP-2 drug for the
prevention of chemotherapy-induced diarrhea. 

Zealand Pharma specializes in the discovery, optimization and development of
novel peptide drugs, and all drug candidates in its pipeline have been
identified through the company's own drug discovery activities. Zealand
Pharma's products target disease areas where existing treatments fail to
adequately serve patient needs and where the market potential for improved
treatments through the use of peptide drugs is high. 

For further information: www.zealandpharma.com.

Note 1) Lyxumia® is the intended trademark for lixisenatide. Lixisenatide is
not currently approved or licensed anywhere in the world.