Zealand Pharma

Copenhagen, 2011-11-17 16:37 CET (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Company announcement
No. 19/2011

Copenhagen, 17 November 2011 - Zealand Pharma A/S (NASDAQ OMX Copenhagen:
ZEAL), a Danish biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the discovery and
development of innovative peptide drugs, announces that the company's Board of
Directors has decided to establish an incentive scheme in the form of a warrant
program for some of the senior employees of the company. Thus, the Board of
Directors has today exercised its authority pursuant to Section 8.1 of the
Articles of Association, granted on the General Meeting of 2 November 2010.

The purpose of the grant of warrants is to reflect Zealand Pharma's objective
to attract and retain first-rate employees and thus ensure a long-term
shareholder value creation. The grant of warrants shall ensure to create - both
in the short and the long run - common interests between the employees and the
shareholders of the company.

A total of 227,085 warrants are to be awarded, giving the right to subscription
of up to 227,085 shares each of DKK 1. The exercise price is fixed at DKK
50.27.

The exercise of awarded warrants may take place, in whole or in part, in the
period from 17 November 2014 until and including 17 November 2016. The exercise
is to be completed within a period of four weeks following the publication of
Zealand Pharma's annual accounts or interim accounts (respectively three, six
or nine months).

In the event that an employee leaves the company, Sections 4 and 5 of the
Danish Act on Exercise of Options or Subscription Rights for Shares etc. in
Employment Relationships shall apply. The terms and conditions set forth in
this Act imply the following:

If the employee leaves the employment by giving notice of termination, the
right to exercise granted warrants will lapse. However, where the exercise
period of the warrants has commenced before termination of the employment, the
warrants may be exercised until the date where the employee leaves the company.
The right to be granted options will also lapse after expiry of the employment.

In case the employment ceases due to termination by the employer and such
termination is not caused by a breach on the part of the employee, the employee
retains the right to all granted warrants irrespective of whether the exercise
period has commenced before the employee leaves the company. The same applies
to the instances described in Section 4 (2) of the Danish Act on Exercise of
Options or Subscription Rights for Shares etc. in Employment Relationships
(termination due to age/retirement) and Section 4 (3) (termination due to gross
breach on the part of the employer).

If the employment ceases due to termination by the employer and such
termination is caused by a breach on the part of the employee, or in the event
that the employee is summarily dismissed for cause, the right to granted
warrants will cease as from the date of expiry of the employment. Where the
exercise period of the warrants has commenced before termination of the
employment, the warrants may be exercised until the date where the employee
leaves the company.

Pursuant to Section 28 a of the Danish Securities Trading Act, the following
persons who are subject to a reporting obligation will receive warrants in
connection with the establishment of the incentive program:

Name Title Number of warrants:

David Solomon President and CEO 90.807

Mats Blom SVP and CFO 31.019

John Hyttel SVP and COO 31.019

Christian Grøndahl EVP and CSO 31.019

Arvind M. Hundal SVP and CBO 43.221

The issued warrants are estimated to have a total market value of approx. DKK
2,930,443. The market value of the issued warrants is calculated on basis of
the Black-Scholes model with a volatility calculated as 34.2, an interest level
of 1.02 % and a share price of DKK 45.7 .

                                  # # #

For further information, please contact:

Hanne Leth Hillman, Vice President for IR & Corporate Communication,

Tel: +45 5060 3689, [email protected]

About Zealand Pharma

Zealand Pharma A/S is a public (NASDAQ OMX: ZEAL) biopharmaceutical company
based in Copenhagen, Denmark with a mature and growing clinical pipeline of
innovative peptide based drugs. The company's lead product is Lyxumia® 1)
(lixisenatide), a once-daily GLP-1 agonist for the treatment of Type-2
diabetes, discovered by Zealand Pharma and licensed to Sanofi. In October
2011, Sanofi submitted an MAA for Lyxumia® (lixisenatide) in Europe and
submission for regulatory approval in the United States is planned for Q4 2012.
Zealand Pharma also has a collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim covering
glucagon/GLP-1 dual agonists, including ZP2929 for the treatment of diabetes
and obesity, and a licence agreement with Helsinn Healthcare on elsiglutide, a
clinical stage GLP-2 drug for the treatment of chemotherapy- and radiotherapy-
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 of lixisenatide.

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