ATHLONE, Ireland - Innocoll AG (NASDAQ:INNL) today announced that its supervisory board has unanimously approved a plan to move the company's legal domicile from Germany to Ireland.
We expect Innocoll to have a transformative year in 2016. Our two lead product candidates are well advanced in their Phase 3 efficacy trials. We expect the Phase 3 data from XaraColl and Cogenzia to be available in the first half and in the third quarter of 2016, respectively. We expect to commence a clinical program in the US for CollaGUARD, our third product in the pipeline, which helps fight post-surgical adhesions, after a pre-submission meeting planned for the first quarter of 2016 with the FDA. We intend to build commercial capabilities in the U.S. to effectively support our brands, and we will evaluate the benefits of select partnerships or co-promotions outside the U.S. Finally, we have started to expand our manufacturing capabilities in our facility in Saal, Germany, in order to supply our late-stage products.
The re-domicile to Ireland is a critical strategic step that will help us capitalize on our strategic initiatives and enhance our corporate profile as there are significant potential benefits of having our publicly-traded parent incorporated in Ireland. It will provide us with greater flexibility in structuring our equity issuances and other financing transactions. Also, the re-domicile will help eliminate certain burdensome formalities and costs to the company and our shareholders. Finally, it positions the company to have better access to the global financial market, and enable us to continue to further attract and retain talent.
The proposed move to a jurisdiction like Ireland will put Innocoll in line with the majority of the NASDAQ listed peers in our sector while preserving Innocoll AG's current Irish tax residency without impacting Innocoll's operations.
"We believe that our proposed corporate re-domicile is in the best interest of Innocoll and our shareholders," said Tony Zook, chief executive officer of Innocoll. "We believe this move will enable Innocoll to benefit from advantages offered by Irish corporate law and provide important economic and operational benefits for our company."
Innocoll's proposed re-domicile will be achieved through a cross border merger under European Union law pursuant to which Innocoll AG will merge into Innocoll Holdings plc, an Irish shell company, the ordinary shares of which will be exchanged for those of Innocoll AG (including those shares underlying existing ADSs on a 1:1 basis). Upon completion of the transaction, Innocoll Holdings plc intends to list its shares directly on NASDAQ under the same "INNL" trading symbol currently used by Innocoll. Innocoll Holdings plc will be the sole surviving entity after the merger and will assume all of the assets and liabilities of Innocoll AG.
The proposed change in domicile is subject to approval from Innocoll's shareholders at an extraordinary general meeting anticipated to occur in January 2016, the final approval of Innocoll's management board, and the satisfaction of other customary closing conditions. If approved, the re-domicile merger and share exchange are expected to close in March 2016.
Innocoll Holdings plc will file a Registration Statement on Form F-4 with the Securities and Exchange Commission which will contain a prospectus relating to the re-domicile merger, including the share exchange. Upon completion of the transaction, Innocoll Holdings plc will remain subject to the reporting, disclosure and governance requirements of the NASDAQ and the SEC.
About Innocoll AG
Innocoll is dedicated to making better happen—better ways for patients to recover from surgeries and better ways to treat limb-threatening infections. We strive to engineer better medicines to help patients get better.
Our proprietary, biocompatible, and biodegradable collagen products are precision-engineered for targeted use. Applied locally to wound and/or surgery sites, they are designed to provide a range of benefits.
Our late-stage product pipeline is focused on addressing a number of significant unmet medical needs: INL-001, a bupivacaine-collagen bioresorbable implant (Phase III), is being studied to provide better postoperative analgesia; INL-002, a gentamicin-collagen topical matrix (Phase III), is being investigated as a topical treatment to better cure diabetic foot infections; and INL-003, a bioresorbable collagen film surgical adhesion barrier (approved ex-US), is scheduled to enter clinical trials in the US for the prevention of postsurgical adhesions.
Our currently approved products include: COLLAGUARD® (ex-US), COLLATAMP® G, SEPTOCOLL® E, REGENEPRO®, COLLACARE®, COLLEXA®, and ZORPREVA®, some of which are sold globally through strategic partnerships, including those with Takeda, EUSA Pharma, and Biomet. All of our native collagen products—from extraction/purification of type-1 collagen through final delivery form—are manufactured at our certified, integrated plant in Saal, Germany.
Innocoll is a global company operating in Europe and the US, with plans to further partner in other high- potential areas around the world.
For more information, please visit www.innocoll.com.
CollaRx®, Collatamp®, CollaGUARD®, Collieva®, CollaCare®, Collexa®, Cogenzia® LidoColl®, LiquiColl®, and XaraColl® are registered trademarks, and CollaPress™, DermaSil™, Durieva™, and Zorpreva™ are trademarks of the company.