Octapharma USA to Participate in Important Medical Meetings at AABB, NHF, ASHP and ASH

HOBOKEN, N.J., Oct. 18, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Octapharma USA will be participating in several important medical meetings over the next few months, including AABB's 64th Annual Meeting in San Diego scheduled for October 22 – 25 and National Hemophilia Foundation's (NHF) 63rd Annual Meeting in Chicago on November 10 – 12.

In December, Octapharma USA will also participate in the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) 46th Mid-Year Meeting in New Orleans scheduled for December 4 – 8 and the 2011 American Society of Hematology's Annual Meeting in San Diego on December 10 – 13. Attendees are encouraged to visit with Octapharma at these important meetings.

Octapharma USA is a corporate sponsor of the NHF Annual Meeting in November and will sponsor a special reception on the opening night for NHF's Victory for Women initiative, a women's health and blood disorders education program. Octapharma will also provide support for two educational workshops for consumers entitled:

• "Babies, Bruises and Bleeds: VWD 101" – focusing on the newly diagnosed with Von Willebrand Disease, the session will discuss coping with the diagnosis, management of the disorder, and specific challenges it presents during the different phases of childhood; and
• "Can We Talk? Intimacy, Dating, Sexuality and Bleeding Disorders" – an open and frank discussion on bleeding disorders and intimacy, including how bleeding problems may affect intimacy decisions, communication styles that promote intimacy and honesty, and disclosure.

NHF has also accepted three Octapharma research clinical posters entitled:

• "Immune Tolerance Therapy (ITI) in Children with FVIII Inhibitors: Cost of care analysis comparison with NovoSeven in the treatment of hemophilia A patients with inhibitors,"
• "ITI with a VWF/FVIII Concentrate in Haemophilia A Patients with Inhibitors and a Poor Prognosis for ITI Success: Progress Report on Octanate in the ObsITI Study," and
• "ADAMTS 13 in Von Willebrand Factor (VWF) Concentrates: Is an Intact VWF Triplet Structure Important for VWF Function?"

At AABB in October, Octapharma USA will have a clinical trials booth where medical/clinical staff will be available to meet with investigators interested in participating in the various clinical trials on display, including:

• "Prospective, Open-Label, Multi-Center, Phase III Clinical Study to Investigate the Efficacy and Safety of Human Factor VWF/FVIII Concentrate (Wilate) in Subjects With Inherited Von Willebrand Disease Who Undergo Major Surgical Procedures,"
• "A Randomized, Open Label, Efficacy and Safety Study of OCTAPLEX and Fresh Frozen Plasma (FFP) in Patients Under Vitamin k Antagonist Therapy With the Need for Urgent Surgery or Invasive Procedures," and
• "Clinical Study to Investigate the Pharmacokinetics, Efficacy, Safety and Immunogenicity of Human-cl rhFVIII, a Newly Developed Human Cell-line Derived Recombinant FVIII Concentrate in Previously Treated Patients With Severe Hemophilia A."

For more information on the clinical trials, please visit www.clinicaltrials.gov.  Additionally, Octapharma USA is also planning a special meeting during AABB with key opinion leaders to discuss the viability of introducing virally-inactivated plasma for transfusion in the U.S. marketplace.

More details on Octapharma's participation at ASHP and ASH will be announced shortly.

About the Octapharma Group

Headquartered in Lachen, Switzerland, Octapharma AG is one of the largest human protein products manufacturers in the world and has been committed to patient care and medical innovation for over 28 years. Octapharma's core business is the development, production and sale of high quality human protein therapies from both human plasma and human cell-lines, including immune globulin intravenous (IGIV). In the U.S., Octapharma's IGIV product, octagam® (immune globulin intravenous [human] 5%), is used to treat primary immune deficiencies, and Octapharma's Albumin (human)® is indicated for the restoration and maintenance of circulating blood volume. Octapharma's wilate® (Von Willebrand Factor/Coagulation Factor VIII Concentrate) received orphan drug exclusivity from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of certain types of Von Willebrand Disease (VWD). Octapharma employs over 4,000 people and has biopharmaceutical experience in 80 countries worldwide, including the United States, where Octapharma USA is located in Hoboken, N.J.  Octapharma operates two state-of-the-art production sites licensed by the FDA, providing a high level of production flexibility. For more information, please visit www.octapharma.com or www.wilateusa.com.

Forward-looking statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements, which include known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors not under the company's control. The company assumes no liability whatsoever to update these forward-looking statements or to conform them to future events or developments. These factors include results of current or pending research and development activities and actions by the FDA or other regulatory authorities.

SOURCE Octapharma USA