JERUSALEM, Sept. 11 /PRNewswire/ - Keryx Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: KERX; AIM: KRX) today released financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2000.

Keryx is a development stage company and, as indicated in the prospectus for its recent initial public offering, does not yet generate revenue.

The net loss for the second quarter was $3,233,806, or $0.40 per share compared to a net loss of $725,660, or $0.09 per share for the quarter ended June 30, 1999. Net loss for the six months ended June 30, 2000 was $5,700,647, or $0.70 per share compared to a net loss of $1,412,985, or $0.17 per share for the six months ended June 30, 1999. These net loss increases were primarily attributable to the non-cash compensation expense related to stock options during the period.

At June 30, 2000, excluding the proceeds of the recent initial public offering, the Company had cash and cash equivalents of $5,033,424 compared with $4,126,735 at December 31, 1999. The Company completed its Initial Public Offering of 4.6 million shares of its common stock on July 28, 2000 and in August the underwriters exercised 600,000 of their over-allotment option. Total net proceeds from the Company's initial public offering were approximately $46.9 million.

As Keryx expands its research and product development efforts and implements its business strategy over the next several years, the Company expects its research and development and administrative costs to increase significantly.

Morris Laster, CEO of Keryx Biopharmaceuticals, noted, "The past few months have been very exciting ones for Keryx. Most notably, our IPO on July 28 and its over-allotment follow-on on August 30 raised a total of $52 million for the Company. I wish personally to welcome our new shareholders to Keryx, and thank them profoundly for their expression of support."

Keryx, a Delaware company with corporate and R&D headquarters in Jerusalem, Israel and its business development and financial functions based in Boston, Massachusetts, is a pharmaceutical company that uses data discovered through the mapping of the human genome to generate drug candidates that target the regulation of protein kinases. Protein kinases play a key role in the way cells communicate. Keryx believes that its approach to drug design allows it to discover more drug candidates in less time and with lower levels of toxicity than its competitors. Keryx's KinAce platform has produced 13 lead compounds, eight of which have already produced positive results in in vivo testing. In addition to developing drug candidates with Keryx's KinAce platform, Keryx has obtained a license for sulodexide (KRX-101) and is developing it for the treatment of a kidney disease known as diabetic nephropathy.

Statements contained or referenced in this news release that are not historical facts may be forward-looking statements, as the term is defined in the Private Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "anticipate", "estimate", "expect", "project", "intend", "plan", "believe" and other words and terms of similar meaning in connection with any discussion of future operating or financial performance. Our actual results and the timing of certain events may differ significantly from the results discussed in forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause or contribute to such a discrepancy include, but are not limited to, the risks outlined in our Registration Statement on Form S-1 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements contained in this filing or in our Registration Statement on Form S-1 include, among other things, statements relating to our drug development and regulatory strategy, growth strategy, use of proceeds, projected capital expenditures, research and development expenditures, other costs and expenses, revenue, profitability, and liquidity and capital resources.