ProMetic Reports Its Third Quarter 2009 Highlights and Financial Results

ProMetic Life Sciences Inc. (TSX:PLI)

- Net Profit of $0.2 M in Q3 2009 vs. Net Losses of $3.6 M in Q3 2008

- YTD Sales of $9.3 M vs. $6.2 M in 2008, up 50%

- YTD Net Losses reduced to $7.0 M vs. $15.0 M in 2008, down 53%

- Significant YTD reduction of cash used in operations - $2.5 M vs. $14.1 M,
down 82%


ProMetic Life Sciences Inc. (TSX:PLI) ("ProMetic") today reports business
highlights and financial results for the third quarter of 2009. All amounts are
in Canadian dollars unless otherwise indicated.


"Responding to the ever changing commercial landscape, ProMetic has tailored the
burn to support its revenue generating activities, improved efficiencies,
reduced research and development expenses, as well as reduced employee numbers
in sectors of activity outside its core objectives," stated Mr. Pierre Laurin,
President and Chief Executive Officer of ProMetic. Mr. Laurin further added:
"The dramatic reduction in the use of cash in operations compared to the same
period last year is a good indicator that the Company is meeting its objectives
of maximizing its cash runway to allow for the achievement of its key drivers".


Improvements across all business segments

Analysing the business segment performance for the quarter and the year to date,
each part of the business is showing significant improvement.




                                Quarter ended 30
                                  September 2009             Year to date

Profit/(Loss)(i)            2009   2008   Change %   2009    2008  Change %

Therapeutics                (485)(1,049)    53.8 % (1,927) (3,413)   43.5 %

Protein Technologies         781   (944)   182.7 % (1,014) (5,021)   79.8 %

Corporate                   (134)(1,645)    92.0 % (4,026) (6,570)   38.7 %

Total Profit/(Loss)          163 (3,639)   104.5 % (6,967)(15,003)   53.6 %
(i) in thousands of dollars



Outlook for 2009

Management's outlook for 2009 remains positive.  Despite the fact that revenues
from our development contracts have been lower than expected, resulting from
amendments to the programs requested by our clients, management has been able to
control and modulate the cost base of the business to minimise impact on EBITDA
forecasts.


Adoption of P-Capt(R) Filter

The Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs ("SaBTO") held
a closed meeting on the 27th of October 2009. It is the Company's understanding
that the adoption of the P-Capt(R) filter was discussed at that meeting.  The
committee was expected to make its recommendation on whether or not the filter
should be adopted by the UK Blood Service, and at what scale, at that meeting. 
The minutes have not yet been made public, and neither the Company, nor its
marketing partner MacoPharma SA, is aware of the outcome of the meeting.  It is
expected, based on comments from SaBTO, that the minutes of the meeting will be
made public within the next few days.


The P-Capt(R) filter is the only approved product proven to be effective for the
removal of endogenous blood-borne prion infectivity from red blood cell
concentrate ("RBC") prior to transfusion. RBC is passed through the filter under
gravity and Pathogen Removal and Diagnostic Technologies Inc.'s ("PRDT") highly
specific affinity adsorbent material captures and removes variant
Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease ("vCJD") prion protein.


Highlights by business segment

Corporate

- 1,500,000 pounds sterling revenue prepayment against an existing supply
contract with Octapharma AG ("Octapharma"), which brings the total prepaid to
date to pounds sterling 2,000,000.  A further pounds sterling 500,000 is
available for drawdown against future milestones presently expected to be
achieved in the first half of 2010.


- $2,250,000 additional loans from long-term stakeholders.

- Repayment of final instalments of $12,000,000 debt contracted in 2006.

- ProMetic obtained controlling stake in PRDT by exchanging a declining royalty
stream based on future revenues for the American Red Cross's 51% share of the
common stock.  This has increased ProMetic's ownership of common stock in PRDT
to 77%.


- Subsequent to the end of the third quarter, ProMetic BioSciences Ltd secured a
further interest-free working capital grant from the Isle of Man Department of
Trade and Industry ("DTI"), in the sum of 500,000 pounds sterling.


Protein Technologies

- Long-term (5-year) supply agreement with major global pharmaceutical company,
securing an initial order of $8.9 M for the supply of a Mimetic LigandTM
product. Deliveries to complete this contract are expected between the last
quarter of 2009 and the first half of 2010.


- Long-term (5-year) supply agreement with Halozyme to provide a synthetic
ligand affinity adsorbent for use in the manufacture of its rHuPH20 product, a
recombinant version of human hyaluronidase enzyme.


- In July, the UK SaBTO published their recommendations which included the use
of commercially available pooled Fresh Frozen Plasma ("FFP") that is
pathogen-inactivated to further reduce the risk of vCJD transmission.  This
announcement had a direct and positive impact to ProMetic and Octapharma.
OctaplasLG(R), a pooled virally-inactivated and prion-reduced plasma product
meets the required specifications recommended by SaBTO, i.e.,  greater than5
logs of prion safety compared to UK-sourced FFP.


- OctaplasLG(R) was licensed in Germany and is presently undergoing regulatory
approval for use in various countries.


Therapeutics



- ProMetic was selected by the American Society of Nephrology for multiple
  presentations regarding PBI-1402 at its 42nd Annual Meeting & Scientific
  Exposition.  These new results presented suggest that:

  - PBI-1402 offers the potential for a novel therapy by prevention and/or
    reduction of fibrosis and sclerosis in the kidney and therefore
    preserving the renal function in patients with chronic kidney disease.

  - PBI-1402 has protective effects against drug-induced toxicity to the
    kidney (such as during chemotherapy) again supporting its potential use
    as a nephroprotective agent.

  - PBI-1402 offers the potential for a novel therapy of anemia associated
    with chronic renal failure.

- The recent data generated to support the effect of PBI-1402 on
  nephroprotection and its unique safety profile for potential use in
  cancer patients constitute significant milestone achievements both for
  future regulatory filings and partnering activities.

- Management has acted to cut the burn-rate of this division such that only
  costs associated with the regulatory and partnering activities for
  PBI-1402 and its analogues are incurred.



Financials Results

The following information should be read in conjunction with the financial
statements for the third quarter ending September 30, 2009, as well as the
Management's Discussion and Analysis for the same period.


The results for the quarter show a net profit of $0.2 M compared to a net loss
of $3.6 M in the same period in 2008, after taking account of the exceptional
gain associated with the PRDT acquisition and the gain on exchange rate.  The
underlying position remains positive.  Revenues for the third quarter 2009
consistent with the same quarter last year at $3.1 M, but costs significantly
down.


For the first nine months of 2009, revenues were $9.3 million compared to $6.2
million for the same period last year, while the net losses were reduced by 53%,
$7 M in 2009 versus $15 M in 2008.


A decrease of $2.7 M in cash used in operations was recorded during the third
quarter 2009, versus the same period in 2008.  For the first nine months of
2009, a total decrease of $11.6 M in cash used for operations was recorded,
versus the same period in 2008, mainly due to increased sales and the cost
cutting measures initiated by ProMetic's Management team. As already stated,
expenditures have been reduced in the non-revenue generating segments of the
business.


Balance Sheet and Financing

Throughout 2009, the Company has been successful in securing patient debt,
principally from existing shareholders whose interests are aligned with those of
the business.  In addition, an advance on revenues has been received from
Octapharma with whom ProMetic has a long-term supply arrangement, with
repayments being made against future sales of product to that customer. 
Furthermore, working capital grants have been secured from the Isle of Man DTI
to assist with the growth of PBL's business.


Certain of these arrangements have required the up-front payment of interest in
the form of shares.  Therefore, the funding is partially dilutive, but the level
of dilution has been minimal in comparison to the dilution level that would have
occurred if an equity investment or other more equity-like instruments had been
used to finance the Company.


Clearly, the debt financing has had an impact on the balance sheet, increasing
liabilities compared with increasing shareholder equity if the financing had
been raised through the sale of common stock.


The Company is aware that during the late part of 2009 and into 2010, efforts
must be made to strengthen the balance sheet of the business.  It is envisaged
that this might be achieved through a combination of revenue growth (sales,
milestones and licensing revenues) and, if conditions are right, through the
issuance of more equity to help with the reduction of liabilities.


ProMetic's MD&A and 2009 Third Quarter Financial Statements have been filed on
Sedar (www.sedar.com) and are now available on the Company's web site at
www.prometic.com.


Conference Call Details

The Company will be holding a conference call / webcast on Monday, November 16,
2009, at 10:30 (EST).


The numbers to access the conference call are [phone] (international) and
1 [phone] (toll free). A live audio webcast of the conference call will
be available through ProMetic's website at
http://www.prometic.com/en/news-events/events.php.


A replay of the call will be available by telephone for a period of seven days
as of Monday, November 16, 2009, at 12:00 (EST).  The numbers to access the
audio replay are [phone] (international) and 1 [phone] (toll free)
using access code 21442463.  The replay of the web cast may be downloaded
directly from ProMetic's web site.


About ProMetic Life Sciences Inc.

ProMetic Life Sciences Inc. ("ProMetic") (www.prometic.com) is a
biopharmaceutical company specialized in the research, development, manufacture
and marketing of a variety of commercial applications derived from its
proprietary Mimetic Ligand(TM) technology. This technology is used in
large-scale purification of biologics and the elimination of pathogens. ProMetic
is also active in therapeutic drug development with the mission to bring to
market effective, innovative, lower cost, less toxic products for the treatment
of hematology and cancer. Its drug discovery platform is focused on replacing
complex, expensive proteins with synthetic "drug-like" protein mimetics.
Headquartered in Montreal (Canada), ProMetic has R&D facilities in the U.K., the
U.S. and Canada, manufacturing facilities in the U.K. and business development
activities in the U.S., Europe, Asia and in the Middle-East.


Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements about ProMetic's
objectives, strategies and businesses that involve risks and uncertainties.
These statements are "forward-looking" because they are based on our current
expectations about the markets we operate in and on various estimates and
assumptions. Actual events or results may differ materially from those
anticipated in these forward-looking statements if known or unknown risks affect
our business, or if our estimates or assumptions turn out to be inaccurate. Such
risks and assumptions include, but are not limited to, ProMetic's ability to
develop, manufacture, and successfully commercialize value-added pharmaceutical
products, the availability of funds and resources to pursue R&D projects, the
successful and timely completion of clinical studies, the ability of ProMetic to
take advantage of business opportunities in the pharmaceutical industry,
uncertainties related to the regulatory process and general changes in economic
conditions. You will find a more detailed assessment of the risks that could
cause actual events or results to materially differ from our current
expectations on page 25 of ProMetic's Annual Information Form for the year ended
December 31, 2008, under the heading "Risk and Uncertainties related to
ProMetic's business".  As a result, we cannot guarantee that any forward-looking
statement will materialize. We assume no obligation to update any
forward-looking statement even if new information becomes available, as a result
of future events or for any other reason, unless required by applicable
securities laws and regulations.  All amounts are in Canadian dollars unless
indicated otherwise.