Protiva Biotherapeutics to pursue Inex lawsuit

By Elaine Rigoli

Tampa, Fla., July 19 - Protiva Biotherapeutics Inc. said Wednesday that based upon the information it has to date, it will withhold its consent and pursue the lawsuit it filed against Inex Pharmaceuticals Corp. in March to prevent the transfer of Protiva's agreements with Inex and other assets into a new company called Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corp.

"Our agreements with Inex plainly state that Inex requires Protiva's consent if it wishes to assign them to another party, as it appears Inex is proposing to do. We have refused to provide that consent and will continue to pursue the available legal remedies to prevent this transaction from happening," president and chief executive officer Mark Murray said in a news release.

Inex said it expects to complete the spin-out by the end of September. However, Protiva said that given the lack of company consent and the pending litigation, it does not believe that timeline is either realistic or appropriate.

On March 23, Protiva filed a statement of claim in the Supreme Court of British Columbia against Inex Pharmaceuticals; Inex's chief executive officer, Timothy Ruane; and three Inex directors who also served as Protiva directors: David Main, Pieter Cullis and Darrell Elliot.

The lawsuit alleges, among other things, that these directors breached their duty to act in Protiva's best interests and made material misrepresentations to Protiva. The suit also claims Protiva has suffered and will suffer irreparable harm, loss, damage and expense by reason of Inex's wrongful breach and repudiation of the Inex-Protiva agreements.

This litigation is now entering the discovery phase, which is expected to last several months.

Based in Vancouver, B.C., Protiva is focused on the development of nucleic-acid pharmaceutical products.

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