Eurofins-Cerep

Regulatory Filings • Dec 10, 2008

Cerep signs a license agreement with sanofi-aventis and receives the first milestone payment

Paris (France), December 10, 2008 - press release 2008/11

Cerep [Euronext : Cerep] today announced the signature of a license agreement for the NPY1 receptor antagonist co-discovered by Cerep and sanofi-aventis as part of their collaboration initiated in 1998.

The drug candidate transferred by Cerep to sanofi-aventis in 2006 is currently in pre-clinical development for the treatment of type-2 diabetes (1).

The molecules identified through the collaboration have been patented by Cerep. The original contract provided a license agreement would be negotiated by the parties should sanofi-aventis decide to develop one of the compounds identified.

The signature of this license agreement triggers a milestone payment to Cerep and the re-imbursement of certain expenses incurred by Cerep.

Other payments are associated to the success of the program, including royalties on sales once the drug will reach the market.

"We are particularly happy of the first success in such a difficult research project aiming at discovering NPY1 receptors' antagonists. No drug with such mechanism of action is commercialized to date. This innovative status is certainly a competitive advantage for our candidate. The signature of a license agreement demonstrates our ability to lead a high quality research project, but also testifies of sanofi-aventis' commitment in this program. It clearly confirms the interest of this kind of high level strategic collaboration" commented Thierry Jean, Chairman and CEO of Cerep.

(1) Diabetes is a metabolism disease characterized by a chronic hyperglycemia resulting from a deficiency in insulin secretion, an impaired effect of insulin, or both. Type-2 diabetes constitutes more than 90% of diabetes cases. The population at risk is essentially the population of obese people.

Contact

Thierry Jean, Chairman & CEO Sophie Macault, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary Tel. +33 (0)1 45 64 44 60 fincom@cerep.fr

Cerep's technologies benefit to more than 460 pharmaceutical and biotechnological companies worldwide including most of the top pharmaceutical firms.

Over the past years, Cerep also developed a pipeline of drug candidates which includes collaborative products developed with Sanofi-Aventis and Bristol-Myers Squibb, as well as proprietary compounds (including one compound in phase I/II clinical trial in the field of cancer). These programs and associated compounds are either partnered or being licensed-out.

Statements included in this press release which are not historical in nature are intended to be, and are hereby identified as, "forward-looking statements" for purposes of the safe harbor provided by Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements may be identified by words including "anticipates", "believes", "intends", "estimates", "expects" and similar expressions. The company cautions readers that forward-looking statements, including without limitation those relating to the company's future operations and business prospects, are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forwardlooking statements. Factors that may affect future operations and business prospects include, but are not limited to, clinical and scientific results and developments concerning corporate collaborations and the company's proprietary rights and other factors described in the company's Document de référence.

Code ISIN FR0004042232 Euronext Paris Euronext - Local Securities

Cerep SA 155 boulevard Haussmann 75008 Paris France tel + 33(0)145 64 44 60 fax +33(0)145 64 44 64 e-mail: fincom@cerep.fr www.cerep.com

Cerep's mission is to provide pharmaceutical companies with high quality services in drug discovery and drug development. Cerep provides solutions allowing faster and cost effective drug discovery by identifying at early stages the most promising drug candidates as well as eliminating those compounds likely to fail in development. Cerep has developed a unique know-how based on technologies of in vitro screening and profiling using its proprietary database BioPrint®, which allows the modelling of clinical effects of drug candidates from their molecular properties.