Aeterna Zentaris receives $2.5M net sales milestone payment from Cowen Royalty

Aeterna Zentaris Inc. (NASDAQ: AEZS) (TSX: AEZ) (the "Company"), a late-stage drug development company specialized in oncology and endocrinology, today announced that it had received a net sales milestone of $2.5 million from Cowen Healthcare Royalty Partners, L.P. ("Cowen Royalty"). This milestone was payable pursuant to the previously announced sale to Cowen Royalty of Aeterna Zentaris' rights to royalties on future net sales of Cetrotide^®, covered by the Company's license agreement with Merck Serono, and was contingent on 2010 net sales of Cetrotide^® reaching a specified level.

Juergen Engel, Ph.D., President and CEO of Aeterna Zentaris stated, "We are pleased to have reached this $2.5 million milestone which will be incremental to advance perifosine, AEZS-108 and other innovative oncology compounds from our extensive product pipeline."