Artimplant plans to effect new share issue

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Artimplant plans to effect new share issue The Board of Directors of Artimplant AB will notify shareholders to attend an Extraordinary General Meeting, to be held on March 27, 2000. The General Meeting is asked to authorize the Board in deciding on a directed issue of up to 2,000,000 new shares of series B in Artimplant, directed to international institutional investors. The purpose of the share issue is to add resources to the intensified work within product development and marketing. Artimplant is entering a market phase with a global market strategy, and as a consequence the company views it as natural to increase the share of international investors. - Since the IPO at the end of 1997 Artimplant's clinical trials within the ligament area have developed very well. The results are so far very promising and we see possibilities for launching a first ligament product earlier than previously expected, comments Anders Cedronius, CEO at Artimplant. During the last two-year period the product portfolio has expanded to include a dozen development projects and aims at a total market of SEK 20-30 billion. In addition there is an even larger market potential within the pharmaceutical area, where our patent for coupling an active substance to biodegradable materials can be used for drug-delivery. The competition within several of Artimplant's product areas is limited, while the medical need is large. In order to commercially exploit Artimplant's advantageous situation in an optimal way, it is the Board's and management's view that substantially larger values can be generated if the company is supplied with additional financial resources in order to launch several new products earlier than expected. These resources would be used mainly to intensify the work with product development, clinical trials and marketing. If the General Meeting authorizes the Board to decide on a new issue of shares it is the Board's intention to pursue the new issue on market terms as soon as possible after the General Meeting has taken place. Prior to the suggested issue the number of shares in Artimplant amounts to 8,250,000, whereof 1,000,000 are of series A and 7,250,000 are of series B. Enskilda Securities AB is an advisor in connection with the issue. For further information please contact: Lars-Erik Nygren, CFO tel: +46 - 31 - 746 5600 Kari Odhnoff, Investor Relations, tel: +46 - 708 - 639 341 Artimplant is a biomaterial company focused on unmet needs in the field of orthopedic surgery. Artimplant's business concept is to develop, manufacture and market biodegradable implants that provide the injured tissue with temporary relief and support the body's natural healing process. The vision is to be world-leading within biologically degradable implants that stimulate self-healing and re-create an active life. The Company's researchers, which represent a unique combination of interdisciplinary competence, have synthesized a vast number of biodegradable polymers, that can be tailored for use in a number of different medical-treatment areas. Artimplant has developed and patented a resorbable ligament implant that currently is undergoing clinical trial including 200 patients for treatment of injured anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). Early follow-up results from the pilot study using Artimplant's ACL implant show both subjective and objective joint stability in the operated knee, and the technique made possible relatively early rehabilitation. A ruptured ACL in the knee is one of the most frequent ligament injuries and often leads to lifelong detrimental effects for the injured, and substantial costs to society. Artimplant's technology can be applied in numerous other areas, and the development activities have expanded to include more than a dozen projects. Artimplant's goal is to launch at least one product year 2000. As part of Artimplant's market strategy Gothenburg Medical Center (GMC) was acquired with the purpose of establishing Swedish headquarters for Artimplant Academy - a forum for advanced clinical research, application and education within orthopedic surgery. Artimplant is listed on the OM Stockholm Stock Exchange O-list. www.artimplant.se ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/03/06/20000306BIT00680/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/03/06/20000306BIT00680/bit0002.pdf