Eckert & Ziegler AG Purchases Rights to a Radiopharmaceutical Rheumatism Drug

(Ad hoc-Mitteilung)

Berlin, 15. September 2005 - Eckert & Ziegler AG (ISIN DE 0005659700), a specialist for radioactive medical applications, will acquire the worldwide rights and the production know-how for the rheumatism drug SpondylAT® for up to EUR 1.6 million from Salzgitter-based Altmann Therapie GmbH & Co. KG. A contract to that effect, which imposes a number of milestones on Altmann Therapie through year's end, is to be signed within the next few days. SpondylAT® which is based on the active agent radium-224 chloride, is authorized for treatment of Bechterew's Disease, a chronic ailment of the joints which afflicts approx. 800,000 patients in Germany. Their treatment generates medicinal costs of approx. EUR 640 million every year nationwide.

SpondylAT® has up to date been only a niche product, despite its authorization by the German Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices. This is primarily due to the fact that there has yet been no demonstration of its effectiveness under formal, stringent clinical conditions. The numerous reports of good treatment results have been obtained only from so-called open clinical tests or retrospective studies with formally low standards of evidence. One reason for this is the weak capital base of Altmann Therapie, which has been unable to finance expensive prospective studies. Eckert & Ziegler wants to close this gap during the coming years by investing approx. EUR 2.4 mio. into the marketing of SpondylAT® and in concomitantly obtaining the proof of its effectiveness. It will also acquire some debt of Altmann Therapie, and thus support the resurrection of that company.

Since the sixties, radium 224 chloride has been successfully used for the treatment of Bechterew's disease by nuclear medicine practitioners, a major customer group of Eckert & Ziegler AG. However, it has been available as a prescription drug in its highly purified form for only about five years. Compared with TNF blockers, SpondylAT® has the advantage that with the same basic level of effectiveness, it has considerably fewer side effects, is cheaper, and does not have to be taken by the patient lifelong.

The Board of Directors