Peplin, Inc and Brisbane have signed a definitive agreement to acquire Neosil, Inc., a privately held, dermatology-focused company

Peplin, Inc., specialty pharmaceutical company focusing on advancing and commercializing innovative medical dermatology products and Brisbane have signed a definitive agreement to acquire Neosil, Inc., a privately held, dermatology-focused company in an all stock transaction. The purchase price of $6.7 million (approximately A$7.0 million) in shares of Peplin stock represents the amount of net cash held by Neosil at signing. The Boards of both companies have recommended the transaction, which is subject to shareholder approval.

Under the terms of the agreement, Peplin will offer approximately 819,000 shares of its common stock (equivalent to approximately 16.4 million CHESS Depository Interests or CDIs) in exchange for all equity interests of Neosil. The transaction is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2008.

Following the transaction Neosil would become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Peplin. In addition to its net cash, Peplin will also acquire Neosil’s intellectual property portfolio which comprises two early clinical stage development programs: the first a hair growth stimulation technology with potential application in the treatment of hair loss and the second, a broad spectrum anti-microbial technology with potential application in the treatment of acne.

Peplin intends to use the net cash obtained from the acquisition to continue the development of its lead product candidates PEP005 (ingenol mebutate) Gel for actinic keratosis and PEP005 (ingenol mebutate) Gel for basal cell carcinoma. Peplin believes that Neosil’s proprietary technologies in hair loss and acne could enable it to expand its product pipeline in the future, although Peplin does not expect to commence further development of these programs before 2009.