Agouron and the Immune Response Corporation to Collaborate on Commercialization of Remune(TM) [International Conference on AIDS (12th: 1998: Geneva, Switzerland)]

- IIIII]III II II IIIIIIII IIII IIIII IIIII IIIII 1111 11111IIIIII II II
Agouron 5571095.0147.012 NEWS
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. NEWS
Investor Contact: Media Contact:
Donna Nichols, Vice President Joy Schmitt, Manager
Head of Corporate Communications Product Public Relations
[phone] [phone]
For Release at 4:00 p.m. EDT on June 11, 1998
AGOURON AND THE IMMUNE RESPONSE CORPORATION TO
COLLABORATE ON COMMERCIALIZATION OF REMUNETM
LA JOLLA. Calif., and CARLSBAD, Calif., June 11, 1998 - Agouron Pharmaceuticals,
Inc. (Nasdaq: AGPH) and The Immune Response Corporation (Immune Response) (Nasdaq:
IMNR) today announced they have agreed to collaborate on final development and
commercialization of REMUNETm, an immune-based therapy for the treatment of HIV infection.
REMUNE was discovered by Immune Response and is currently the subject of several clinical
trials, including a large phase III clinical endpoint trial. The two companies will endeavor to
complete development and apply for registration of REMUNE in 1999.
Immune Response will manufacture commercial supplies of REMUNE, and Agouron will
have exclusive rights to market REMUNE in North America, Europe and certain other countries.
Under the agreement subject to certain rights of termination by Agouron, Immune Response may
receive as much as $77 million over the next two years, including license and milestone payments
of $45 million, payments to support development of $18 million, and the purchase of $14 million
of Immune Response common stock at a premium to market. Of the $77 million, Immune
Response initially will receive a $10 million license fee and Agouron has purchased 118,256
shares of newly issued Immune Response common stock for $2 million. In addition, the two
companies will share all profits from the conunmmercialization of REMUNE on a 50:50 basis.
"We made the decision to aggressively pursue this opportunity with Inune Response
after a comprehensive review of clinical data on REMUNE from a number of studies, which
convinced us of the unique potential of this product to make a powerful contribution to the
treatment of HIV infection and AIDS," said Peter Johnson, Agouron's president and chief
executive officer. "Prominent among these data were encouraging preliminary results from a
small study of REMUNE taken in combination with highly active antiretroviral drugs-results that
will be presented at the upcoming 12th World AIDS Conference in Geneva later this month.

-more