ALLSCHWIL, Switzerland, April 23, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- At today's Annual General Meeting of Actelion Ltd. (SWX:ATLN) (Other OTC:ALIOF), shareholders approved the following measures:
- Increase in conditional capital by CHF 0.625 million, reserved for the issuance of employee stock options
- Increase in Authorized Capital by CHF 7 million to CHF 10 million, to be used for general corporate purposes
The shareholders also approved the annual report, including the financial statements, for the year 2002. They also confirmed Andre J. Mueller and Fred Meyer as members of the board for another three years.
Following the departure of former board members Thomas Widmann and Jane Royston, the board of directors is now composed of 7 instead of 9 members: Robert E. Cawthorn (Chairman), Jean-Paul Clozel, Joel Besse, Werner Henrich, Rudolf Maag, Fred J. Meyer and Andre J. Mueller.
The Annual General Meeting of Actelion took place in Basel. It was attended by 130 shareholders, representing 7'009'453 shares or 30.19 percent of the total shares with voting rights.
Actelion Ltd
Actelion Ltd is a biopharmaceutical company with its corporate headquarter in Allschwil/Basel, Switzerland. Actelion's first drug Tracleer(R), an orally available dual endothelin receptor antagonist, has been approved as a therapy for pulmonary arterial hypertension. Actelion markets Tracleer(R) through its own subsidiaries in key markets worldwide, including the United States (based in South San Francisco), the European Union as well as Canada and Switzerland. Actelion, founded in late 1997, is a leading player in innovative science related to the endothelium -- the single layer of cells separating every blood vessel from the blood stream. Actelion focuses on the discovery, development and marketing of innovative drugs for significant unmet medical needs. Actelion shares are traded on the SWX Swiss Exchange (ticker symbol: ATLN).