Dyax Secures $50 Million Committed Equity Financing Facility

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dyax Corp. (NASDAQ:DYAX) announced today that it has entered into a committed equity financing facility under which it may sell up to $50 million of its common stock to Azimuth Opportunity, Ltd. over an 18-month period. The Company is not obligated to issue any shares to Azimuth under the $50 million facility and remains free to enter into other equity and debt financing transactions. Dyax did not pay a commitment fee, or issue any warrants, to secure this facility.

“This is a transformational period for Dyax, as we finalize the commercialization strategy for DX-88 in hereditary angioedema. Together with our existing capital resources, this equity facility provides Dyax additional financial flexibility to accomplish our commercial and growth strategies”

Dyax will determine, at its sole discretion, the timing, dollar amount and floor price per share of each draw under this facility, subject to certain conditions. When and if Dyax elects to use the facility, Dyax will issue shares to Azimuth at a small discount to the volume weighted average price of Dyax’s common stock over a preceding period of trading days. The offer and sale of any shares by Dyax under this facility has been registered pursuant to a shelf registration statement declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission on January 7, 2008.

“This is a transformational period for Dyax, as we finalize the commercialization strategy for DX-88 in hereditary angioedema. Together with our existing capital resources, this equity facility provides Dyax additional financial flexibility to accomplish our commercial and growth strategies,” commented George Migausky, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. “These near-term growth objectives include the further development of DX-88 in other indications as well as the expansion and advancement of our internal pipeline of product candidates.”

This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any state or jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of any state. Copies of the prospectus may be obtained from Dyax, Attn: Nicole Jones, Director, Investor Relations, 300 Technology Square, Cambridge, MA 02139, [phone].

About Dyax

Dyax is focused on advancing novel biotherapeutics for unmet medical needs, with an emphasis on oncology and inflammatory indications. Dyax utilizes its proprietary drug discovery technology to identify antibody, small protein and peptide compounds for clinical development. Dyax’s lead product candidate is DX-88 (ecallantide), a recombinant small protein that is currently being evaluated for its therapeutic potential in two separate indications. On September 24, 2008, Dyax announced the submission of its Biologics License Application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for approval of DX-88 for the treatment of hereditary angioedema (HAE). DX-88 has orphan drug designation in the U.S. and E.U., as well as Fast Track designation in the U.S., for the treatment of acute attacks of HAE. Additionally, DX-88 is being evaluated for the prevention of blood loss during on-pump cardiothoracic surgery (CTS) through its partner Cubist Pharmaceuticals. Dyax licensed to Cubist the intravenous formulation of DX-88 for surgical indications in North America and Europe. DX-88 and other compounds in Dyax’s pipeline were identified using its patented phage display technology, which rapidly selects compounds that bind with high affinity and specificity to therapeutic targets. Dyax leverages this technology broadly with over 70 revenue generating licenses and collaborations for therapeutic discovery, as well as in non-core areas such as affinity separations, diagnostic imaging, and research reagents. Dyax is headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For online information about Dyax Corp., please visit www.dyax.com.

Dyax Disclaimer

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the timing and prospects for review and FDA approval of the BLA for DX-88 for HAE and commercialization of DX-88 and the Company’s use of the equity facility. Statements that are not historical facts are based on Dyax’s current expectations, beliefs, assumptions, estimates, forecasts and projections about the industry and markets in which Dyax competes. The statements contained in this release are not guarantees of future performance and involve certain risks, uncertainties and assumptions, which are difficult to predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from what is expressed in such forward-looking statements. Important factors which may affect the prospects for Dyax include the risks that: Dyax product candidates may not show therapeutic effect or an acceptable safety profile in clinical trials or could take a significantly longer time to gain regulatory approval than Dyax expects or may never gain approval; others may develop technologies or products superior to Dyax’s product candidates; Dyax is dependent on the expertise, effort, priorities and contractual obligations of third parties in the clinical trials, manufacture, marketing, sales and distribution of its biopharmaceuticals; Dyax product candidates may not gain market acceptance; Dyax may not be able to obtain and maintain intellectual property protection for its products and technologies; Dyax’s ability to obtain acceptable financing to fund operations; and other risk factors described or referred to in Dyax’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and other periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Dyax cautions investors not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements contained in this release. These statements speak only as of the date of this release, and Dyax undertakes no obligations to update or revise these statements, except as may be required by law.

Dyax and the Dyax logo are registered trademarks of Dyax Corp.