Mithra Announces Commercial Launch of Myring™ in Belgium

Ceres Pharma is a fast-growing, Belgium-based company, focused on building a portfolio of Over-TheCounter (OTC) and specialist healthcare products. Mithra signed a global agreement with Ceres Pharma in July 2018 for the sale of its Women’s Health branded generics business in the BeLux territories, as well as License and Supply Agreements for the commercialization of key products developed in-house, such as Myring™, Tibelia® and Estelle® 2. Mithra received an immediate payment of EUR 20 million, with a potential additional EUR 20 million in earn-outs over the period 2019-2023, pending certain sales milestones.

To date, Mithra has licensed Myring™ to industry leaders in 16 international markets, including the three biggest worldwide markets (United States, Germany and Italy). Further contracts are expected to follow in the coming months, including in Europe, where Mithra has already 19 marketing authorizations granted, with the last four expected in 2020. Thanks to its cutting-edge equipment and strengthened production teams, Mithra CDMO should produce about 1,800,000 contraceptive rings in 2020.

François Fornieri, CEO Mithra Women’s Health, commented: “We are particularly excited and proud to see our contraceptive vaginal ring arrive in pharmacies in Belgium, after all these years of research and development. The Myring™ division of our Mithra CDMO is fully operational to meet all of our planned commercial orders for this year, particularly for the world's three largest markets Germany, Italy and the USA.“

About Mithra
Mithra (Euronext: MITRA) is a Belgian biotech company dedicated to transforming Women’s Health by offering new choices through innovation, with a particular focus on contraception and menopause. Mithra’s goal is to develop products offering better efficacy, safety and convenience, meeting women’s needs throughout their life span. Its three lead development candidates are built on Mithra’s unique native estrogen platform, Estetrol (E4):
Estelle®, a new era in oral contraception, PeriNesta®, the first complete oral treatment for perimenopause and Donesta®, the next-generation hormone therapy. Mithra also develops and manufactures complex therapeutics in the areas of contraception, menopause and hormone-dependent cancers. It offers partners a complete spectrum of research, development and specialist manufacturing at its technological platform Mithra CDMO. Active in more than 85 countries around the world, Mithra has an approximate headcount of 250 staff members and is headquartered in Liège, Belgium. www.mithra.com

About Myring™
Myring™ (etonogestrel/ethinyl estradiol vaginal ring) is a non-biodegradable, flexible, transparent, combination contraceptive vaginal ring, with an outer diameter of 54 mm and a cross-sectional diameter of 4 mm. It is made of ethylene vinylacetate copolymers, and contains 11.7 mg etonogestrel and 2.7 mg ethinyl estradiol. When placed in the vagina, each ring releases, in line with the originator (Nuvaring®), on average 0.120 mg/day of etonogestrel and 0.015 mg/day of ethinyl estradiol over a three-week period of use. The ring is to remain in place continuously for three weeks. It is removed for a one-week break, during which a withdrawal bleed usually occurs. A new ring is inserted one week after the last ring was removed.

About Ceres
Ceres Pharma was founded in the summer of 2017 as an umbrella company housing four existing companies: Pharco Innovations, Etixx Sports, Primrose Pharma and Calx Plus. Active in the sector of over-the-counter (OTC) products, the company is owned by investor Marc Coucke and CEO Mario Debel, and intends to grow by developing its own portfolio and through acquisitions.