Full Press Release Details
BioTherapeutics Added to Russell 3000 Index
Carmiel, Israel June 26, 2007
Protalix BioTherapeutics, Inc. (AMEX: PLX) today announced that its shares have
been added to the broad market Russell 3000 Index. The Russell Investment Group
reconstituted its comprehensive set of U.S. and global equity indexes following the close
of the U.S. markets on Friday, June 22.
Membership in the Russell 3000,
which remains in place for one year, means automatic inclusion in the large-cap Russell
1000 Index or small-cap Russell 2000 Index, as well as the appropriate growth
and value style indexes. Russell determines membership for its equity indexes primarily
by objective, market-capitalization rankings and style attributes.
Dr. David Aviezer, President and
Chief Executive Officer of Protalix, stated, Our addition to the Russell index is a
reflection of the progress we have made since we listed our shares on the American Stock
Exchange. Our recent receipt of FDA approval to launch phase III clinical trials of prGCD
represents a significant milestone for Protalix and gives us great confidence in the
future of the Company. We believe that inclusion in this index will help increase our
visibility among investors and contribute to our efforts to increase shareholder value.
The Russell 3000 serves as the U.S.
component to the Russell Global Index, which Russell launched earlier this year. Russell
indexes are widely used by investment managers and institutional investors for index
funds and as benchmarks for both passive and active investment strategies. An
industry-leading $4 trillion in assets currently are benchmarked to them. Annual
reconstitution of Russell s U.S. indexes captures the 4,000 largest U.S. stocks as of the
end of May, ranking them by total market capitalization. The largest 1,000 companies in
this ranking comprise the Russell 1000 and the next 2,000 companies become the Russell
2000. These investment tools originated from Russell s multi-manager investment business
in the early 1980s when the company saw the need for a more objective, market-driven set
of benchmarks in order to evaluate outside investment managers.
About Protalix BioTherapeutics, Inc.
Protalix is a clinical stage
biopharmaceutical company. Its goal is to become a fully integrated biopharmaceutical
company focused on the discovery and development of proprietary and collaboratively
developed recombinant biopharmaceuticals to be expressed through its proprietary plant
cell based expression system. Protalix s plant cell expression system presents a
proprietary method for the expression of recombinant proteins that Protalix believes is
safe and scalable and will allow for the cost-effective, industrial-scale production of
recombinant therapeutic proteins. Protalix has recently announced that it has received
written notice from the United States Food and Drug Administration that it may initiate a
Phase III clinical trial in the United States of its lead product candidate, prGCD, for
its enzyme therapy for Gaucher Disease, a lysosomal storage disorder in humans. Protalix
is also advancing additional recombinant biopharmaceutical drug development programs.
Russell Investment Group aims to
improve financial security for people by providing strategic advice, world-class
implementation, state-of-the-art performance benchmarks, and a range of
institutional-quality investment products. With more than $200 billion in assets under
management, Russell serves individual, institutional and advisor clients in more than 40
countries. Russell provides access to some of the world s best money managers. It helps
investors put this access to work in corporate defined benefit and defined contribution
plans, and in the life savings of individual investors.
Founded in 1936, Russell is a
subsidiary of Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company. Headquartered in Tacoma, Wash.,
U.S., Russell has principal offices in Amsterdam, Auckland, Hong Kong, Johannesburg,
London, Melbourne, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo and Toronto.
Russell s indexes are unmanaged and
cannot be invested in directly. For more information on Russell indexes, go to
Safe Harbor Statement:
To the extent that statements in
this press release are not strictly historical, all such statements are forward-looking,
and are made pursuant to the safe-harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown
risks and uncertainties that may cause actual future experience and results to differ
materially from the statements made. These statements are based on our current beliefs
and expectations as to such future outcomes. Drug discovery and development involve a
high degree of risk. Factors that might cause such a material difference include, among
others, uncertainties related to the ability to attract and retain partners for our
technologies and products under development, the identification of lead compounds, the
successful preclinical development of our products, the completion of clinical trials,
the review process of the FDA, foreign regulatory bodies and other governmental
regulation, and other factors described in our filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. The statements are valid only as of the date hereof and we disclaim any
obligation to update this information.
information, contact Protalix BioTherapeutics at:
AMEX IR Alliance for
Protalix BioTherapeutics
Lee Roth / David Burke