King Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Vascular Solutions, Inc. announced that the companies have entered into a series of agreements relating to Vascular Solutions' haemostatic products. Pursuant to the agreements, Vascular Solutions grants King an exclusive license to its haemostatic products designed for use outside of catheterization and electrophysiology laboratories, which include Thrombix and Thrombigel haemostats.

The license also includes Thrombige Paste, which is currently in development. Each of these products includes King's Thrombin-JMI (thrombin, topical, bovine, USP) as a component. Vascular Solutions will manufacture and supply the products to King under the agreements a King Pharma press release stated.

Brian A. Markison, president and chief executive officer of King, stated, "We are very pleased to join Vascular Solutions in this strategic alliance, as they have proven expertise in combining our active haemostatic agent, Thrombin-JMI, with a variety of passive haemostatic agents, such as absorbable gelatin sponges, topical gauze, flowable collagen and flowable gelatin. The addition of Thrombix and Thrombigel to our product line and other potential Thrombin-JMI based products to our development pipeline is representative of our strategy to maximize the potential of our existing products."

J. David Owens, senior vice president of King's Hospital & Surgical Products Division, commented, "Surgeons trust Thrombin-JMI to help control surgical bleeding based upon their individual clinical experience and the product's over 10-year track record of safety and efficacy in an estimated 11 million procedures. Thrombin-JMI helps surgeons achieve rapid and effective haemostasis in a variety of surgical procedures and is currently used by them to reach more kinds of bleeding sites than any other topical haemostatic agent. With the addition of Vascular Solutions' products, we are excited that our hospital sales team of over 110 professionals will now have the opportunity to offer physicians an even wider variety of means to administer Thrombin-JMI."

Howard Root, chief executive officer of Vascular Solutions, Inc. commented, "I am very excited about our relationship with King Pharmaceuticals and the potential benefits that it can bring to Vascular Solutions. During the last two years we have searched for an appropriate commercial partner for our haemostatic products that are designed for use outside of the cath lab markets where our direct sales force focuses. King's organization and proven distribution capability is an excellent fit for these opportunities. The agreements that we entered into today take advantage of King's and Vascular Solutions' respective strengths, which we believe will result in delivering results that neither party could accomplish individually."

Thrombix and Thrombigel are not currently indicated for surgical applications. Vascular Solutions plans to file an application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration during the second half of 2007 seeking approval of surgical indications for Thrombigel.

King's license to Thrombix and Thrombigel covers all market opportunities other than the catheterization and electrophysiology labs, where Vascular Solutions currently promotes the products through its direct sales force. Vascular Solutions received $6 million from King as an upfront license fee, with an additional $2 million in potential future milestone payments. The companies did not provide additional financial details relating to the transaction.