ApiJect Issues Statement on NBC Digital News Story

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Apr 21, 2021, 11:31 ET

STAMFORD, Conn., April 21, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, NBC Digital News published an online story about ApiJect Systems, Corp., the status of its single-dose, prefilled syringe system and U.S. Government contracts supporting the development of a high-volume prefilled syringe capacity with no foreign supply chain dependencies.

The NBC Digital News story about ApiJect is wrong. The headline alone has three errors.

ApiJect has not been awarded $1.3 billion. It has been awarded $138 million by DoD and up to $13 million by HHS.

ApiJect does not make syringes. It makes a system capable of making prefilled syringes with the drug being filled at the same moment as the container in the prefilled syringe is formed.

ApiJect is an on-demand manufacturing system. There is no inventory, so the prefilled syringes are not missing ("Where are the syringes?"). Prefilled syringes are made and filled in one step as needed on demand with a high-speed aseptic system that is fully operational and was delivered on schedule to serve America and the global need for vaccine injections.

To get its made-up $1.3 billion number, NBC Digital News created and combined totally wrong "facts."

It credited ApiJect with having received a loan for $590 million that has not been awarded to date.
It took a contract that provided ApiJect with a potential $13 million, for which ApiJect has invoiced the federal government $1.3 million, and credited ApiJect with being awarded $456 million, taking language in the contract allowing ApiJect to seek additional funds up to $456 million but that would require ApiJect to apply for, and the government to approve, those funds. They took that number as having been "awarded" to ApiJect despite our making clear to them that was not the case. ApiJect has made no such application for government consideration.
With these two made-up numbers they added the actual DoD/HHS $138 million contract to build emergency fill-finish capacity on U.S. soil by year-end 2020. That capacity was delivered by ApiJect on budget for $138 million and finished in record time at a retrofitted facility in South Carolina. This was the only U.S. facility that could be outfitted with critically needed Bio-Safety standards essential to handle several COVID vaccines in the allotted time.

ApiJect is seeking a federal loan of $590 million to supplement $250 million in private sector capital commitments to build a factory in North Carolina capable of producing up to 3 billion single-dose, prefilled syringes annually — which, if FDA approved, can handle vaccines to battle the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S. and worldwide at very high speed with no foreign supply chain dependencies.

In saying the factory has not yet been built, NBC Digital News asks it readers to apply an "Alice in Wonderland" standard asserting that our factory should have been built before the funds necessary to construct it have been approved and provided and on an alternative universe timeline.

ApiJect attempted to cooperate with NBC Digital News in its reporting on the story on numerous occasions. But its reporters never allowed our explanation of the facts to get in the way of its opportunity to produce a sensational headline followed by a made-up story. As a news organization, with a storied history of factual and significant reporting, we had hoped for something otherwise.

ABOUT APIJECT

ApiJect Systems, Corp. is a medical technology company that is revolutionizing how the world fills, finishes, and delivers injectable medicines and vaccines. Our proprietary technology platform brings together simple, interconnecting components to create scalable drug delivery devices for U.S. and global markets. ApiJect's first device, the single-dose Prefilled Injector, is a new type of mass-manufacturable prefilled syringe created by twisting a pen needle-style hub onto a Blow-Fill-Seal container. ApiJect is proud to be working with the U.S. Government and several leading pharmaceutical companies on COVID-19 response. ApiJect's Needle Hub and Connector components have been submitted for pre-submission FDA review. Learn more at www.apiject.com.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included in these materials that address activities, events or developments that ApiJect expects, believes or anticipates will or may occur in the future are forward-looking statements. The words "believe", "expect", "may", "estimates", "will", "anticipate", "plan", "intend", "foresee", "should", "would", "could", or other similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, which are generally not historical in nature. However, the absence of these words does not mean that the statements are not forward looking. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, forward-looking statement contained in this press release specifically include the expectations of plans, strategies, and objectives of ApiJect. Such statements are subject to a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of ApiJect, which may cause actual results to differ materially from those implied or expressed by the forward-looking statements.

SOURCE ApiJect Systems, Corp.