Eckert & Ziegler Strahlen- und Medizintechnik AG

Legal Proceedings Report • Dec 20, 2006

News Details

Ad-hoc | 20 December 2006 15:33

Eckert & Ziegler Stops Clinical Development of SpondylAT®

ECKERT & ZIEGLER Strahlen- und Medizintechnik AG / Strategic Company Decision/Disposal

Ad hoc announcement according to § 15 WpHG transmitted by DGAP - a company of EquityStory AG.
The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.

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Berlin, 20 December 2006. The Executive Board of Eckert & Ziegler Strahlen-
und Medizintechnik AG (ISIN DE0005659700) has decided today not to continue
clinical development of the rheumatism drug SpondylAT®, and to close the
complete project by the end of the 2006 business year. The expected 2006
result for the Pankow-based medical technology company is thus reduced from
0.80 EUR to approximately 0.75 EUR per share.

The decisive factor in this decision derives from the latest talks with
representatives of the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices
(BfArM), who will only approve clinical testing for SpondylAT® under
exceptionally strict conditions and for a small number of applications.

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Information and Explaination of the Issuer to this News:

SpondylAT® was authorized a few years ago by the BfArM provided that a
clinical study be submitted by the end of 2005 with a high level of
evidence to confirm the long years of good experience with this rheumatism
medication. Altmann GmbH, the producer and owner of SpondylAT® based in
Lower Saxony, missed the deadline to submit the study and sold the rights
to the drug to Eckert & Ziegler before authorization was retracted. Eckert
& Ziegler then made every effort to arrange for clinical trials on a
short-term basis and thus renew the authorization process.

In the latest talks with authorities it then turned out that new clinical
trials for SpondylAT® would not benefit from the previous authorization
bonus, but instead would be burdened with prohibitive conditions. For this
reason, the Board has decided to discontinue the project and to write off
all development expenses this year for a reduction in profit, including the
loan extended to the Altmann company.

Eckert & Ziegler is a globally active specialist for radiation applications
in medicine, science and industry. Its main areas of activity are cancer
therapy, nuclear medical diagnostics and measurement technology. Listed on
the Frankfurt Prime Standard (ISIN DE0005659700), the Group is
headquartered in Berlin-Buch and has approximately 300 employees. In
addition to sites in Germany, it has subsidiaries in Los Angeles, Atlanta,
San Francisco, Prague, Paris, Milan and Chennai (India).

DGAP 20.12.2006

Language: English
Issuer: ECKERT & ZIEGLER Strahlen- und Medizintechnik AG
Robert-Rössle-Str. 10
13125 Berlin Deutschland
Phone: +49 (0)30 941 084-0
Fax: +49 (0)30 941 084-112
E-mail: karolin.riehle@ezag.de
WWW: www.ezag.de
ISIN: DE0005659700
WKN: 565970
Indices:
Listed: Geregelter Markt in Frankfurt (Prime Standard); Freiverkehr
in Berlin-Bremen, Stuttgart, München, Hamburg, Düsseldorf

End of News DGAP News-Service

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