Investors

COPENHAGEN, Denmark, Nov. 24, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Forward Pharma A/S (Nasdaq:FWP) ("the Company") announced today that the Company received an issue notification from the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) regarding its patent application 13/143,498 covering its erosion matrix formulation of dimethyl fumarate (DMF). The application is entitled "Pharmaceutical formulation comprising one or more fumaric acid esters in an erosion matrix".  The USPTO projects that the application will issue with the patent number 8,906,420 on December 9, 2014.  The patent will expire in January 2030.

Forward Pharma's lead drug, FP187, is an erosion matrix formulation that will be covered by the issued patent.  This patent is one of several elements of the Company's intellectual property, which also includes the Company's pending patent applications covering methods of treating multiple sclerosis with any formulation that provides a 480 mg daily dose of DMF.  

"This is further evidence of the progress we are making in our intellectual property estate. With patent protection extending into 2030 in the U.S., we believe that we have now established a long runway for our novel formulation of DMF, FP187," commented Peder Andersen, CEO of Forward Pharma.

The USPTO examiner allowed the erosion matrix patent application after considering opposition papers, including those of Biogen Idec, filed against the Company's corresponding European patent EP2379063.

Additional information on the patent, including the issue notification, is available by accessing the Patent Application Information Retrieval (PAIR) website http://pair.uspto.gov under patent application 13/143,498 entitled "Pharmaceutical formulation comprising one or more fumaric acid esters in an erosion matrix" (patent number 8,906,420).

About Forward Pharma:

Forward Pharma A/S is a Danish biopharmaceutical company (the "Company or "Forward Pharma") preparing to initiate a Phase 3 clinical trial using FP187, a proprietary formulation of dimethyl fumarate, or DMF, for the treatment of multiple sclerosis, or MS, patients. Since our founding in 2005, we have worked to advance unique formulations of DMF, an immune modulator, as a therapeutic to improve the health and well-being of patients with immune disorders including MS. FP187, our clinical candidate, is a DMF formulation in a delayed and slow release oral dose, which we plan to advance for the treatment of relapsing remitting MS, or RRMS, and other immune disorders, such as psoriasis.

Our principal executive offices are located at Østergade 24A, 1, 1100 Copenhagen K, Denmark and our American Depositary Shares are publicly traded on NASDAQ Stock Market (symbol: FWP). For more information about the Company's products and developments, please visit our web site at www.forward-pharma.com.

Forward Pharma A/S Media Contact:

Sharon Klahre, Director, Investor Relations
Forward Pharma USA, LLC
7 Skyline Drive
Hawthorne, NY 10532
SK@forward-pharma.com 
914-752-3542

Andy Brimmer / Dan Katcher / Jennifer Beugelmans
Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher
212-355-4449

Forward Looking Statements:

Certain statements in this press release may constitute "forward-looking statements" of the Company within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: statements which contain language such as: "believe,""expect," "hope," "would" and "potential." Forward-looking statements are predictions only which involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from those expressed in such statements. Many such risks, uncertainties and other factors are taken into account as part of our assumptions underlying these forward-looking statements and include, among others, the following: the Company's ability to obtain, maintain and defend issued patents with protective claims; the commencement of any patent interference or infringement action; the Company's ability to prevail in or obtain a favorable decision in any such action; and the Company's ability to recover damages in any such action; uncertainties relating to our development plans; risks and uncertainties related to the scope, validity; and the enforceability of our intellectual property rights in general and the impact on us of patents and other intellectual property of third parties. Given the uncertainties, assumptions and risk factors associated with this type of information, including those described above, investors are cautioned that the information may not be appropriate for other purposes.