Strong Cresemba® (isavuconazole) sales in the United States trigger first sales milestone payment to Basilea

Basel, Switzerland, October 23, 2017 - Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. (SIX: BSLN) announced today that the sales of the antifungal Cresemba^® (isavuconazole) in the United States exceeded the threshold triggering the first sales milestone payment from Astellas Pharma Inc. ("Astellas") to Basilea in the amount of CHF 5 million.

David Veitch, Chief Commercial Officer of Basilea, said: "We are very pleased with the continued commercial success of Cresemba in the U.S. reflecting the medical need for agents treating invasive aspergillosis and invasive mucormycosis in adults and the increasing importance of Cresemba in the treatment of adults suffering from these potentially life-threatening invasive fungal infections that predominantly affect immunocompromised patients, such as patients with cancer and after transplantation."

Under the agreement with Astellas, Basilea is still eligible for additional sales milestone payments of up to CHF 285 million in addition to tiered, double-digit royalties on U.S. sales.

About Cresemba (isavuconazole)

Isavuconazole is an intravenous (i.v.) and oral azole antifungal, commercialized under the trade name Cresemba. Basilea has entered into several license and distributions agreements covering the Unites States, Europe, Japan, Latin America, the Middle East and North Africa region, Canada, Russia, Turkey and Israel. Isavuconazole is approved in the United States for patients 18 years of age and older in the treatment of invasive aspergillosis and invasive mucormycosis.¹ In Europe (28 European Union member states, as well as in Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) Isavuconazole is approved for the treatment of adult patients with invasive aspergillosis and for the treatment of adult patients with mucormycosis for whom amphotericin B is inappropriate.² Isavuconazole has U.S. and European orphan drug designation for the approved indications. Outside the U.S. and Europe, the drug is currently not approved for commercial use.

About Basilea

Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. is a commercial stage biopharmaceutical company developing products that address the medical challenge of increasing resistance and non-response to current treatment options in the therapeutic areas of bacterial infections, fungal infections and cancer. The company is committed to discovering, developing and commercializing innovative pharmaceutical products to meet the medical needs of patients with serious and life-threatening conditions. Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland and listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange (SIX: BSLN). Additional information can be found at Basilea's website www.basilea.com.

Disclaimer

This communication expressly or implicitly contains certain forward-looking statements concerning Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. and its business. Such statements involve certain known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which could cause the actual results, financial condition, performance or achievements of Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Basilea Pharmaceutica Ltd. is providing this communication as of this date and does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements contained herein as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

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This press release can be downloaded from www.basilea.com.

References

1   Cresemba US prescribing information [Accessed: October 20, 2017]

2   European Public Assessment Report (EPAR) Cresemba: http://www.ema.europa.eu
[Accessed: October 20, 2017]

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