PHILADELPHIA, June 1, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Hemispherx Biopharma (NYSE Amex:HEB) announced today an invitation, funded entirely by the government of Italy, to present its technology platform for influenza control, at the upcoming "International Conference on Biotechnologies and Finance" in Rome on June 4-5, 2009, at the Sheraton Parco de Medici. According to the Conference Organizers, leaders of "private and public research centers, intellectual property holders and financial experts from Europe, Australia, Canada, Estonia, Singapore and the USA" will participate. Hemispherx will present in a Round Table Discussion on Pandemic Influenza, moderated by Dr. Elemer Piros, Senior Pharmaceutical Analyst at Rodman and Renshaw, a USA investment bank.
Hemispherx has a broad-based technology platform for confronting the potential of an influenza pandemic, which consists of both preventative (vaccine) components as well as experimental therapeutic interventions. Clinical results from trials conducted in Australia are being evaluated and major vaccine initiatives in Japan are being accelerated in collaboration with the Japanese National Institutes of Health and the Japanese Ministry of Health.
About Hemispherx Biopharma
Hemispherx Biopharma, Inc. is a specialty pharma company engaged in the manufacture and clinical development of new drug entities for treatment of seriously debilitating disorders. Hemispherx's flagship products include Alferon N Injection(r) (FDA approved for a category of sexually transmitted diseases) and the experimental therapeutics, Ampligen(r) and Oragens. Ampligen(r) and Oragens represent experimental RNA nucleic acids being developed for globally important debilitating diseases and disorders of the immune system. Hemispherx's platform technology includes large and small agent components for potential treatment of various severely debilitating and life threatening diseases. Hemispherx has in excess of 50 issued patents comprising its core intellectual property estate and a fully commercialized product (Alferon N Injection(r)). The Company wholly owns and exclusively operates a GMP certified manufacturing facility in the United States for commercial products. For more information please visit www.hemispherx.net.
Information contained in this news release other than historical information, should be considered forward-looking and is subject to various risk factors and uncertainties. For instance, the strategies and operations of Hemispherx involve risk of competition, changing market conditions, change in laws and regulations affecting these industries and numerous other factors discussed in this release and in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Any specifically referenced investigational drugs and associated technologies of the Company (including Ampligen(r), Alferon LDO and Oragens) are experimental in nature and as such are not designated safe and effective by a regulatory authority for general use and are legally available only through clinical trials with the referenced disorders. The forward-looking statements represent the Company's judgment as of the date of this release. The Company disclaims, however, any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements. Clinical trials for other potential indications of the approved biologic Alferon N Injection(r) do not imply that the product will ever be specifically approved commercially for these other treatment indications; similarly, the completion of the NDA filing process with Ampligen(r) does not imply that the product will ever be approved commercially.