Akela to terminate lease payment agreement

Akela (TSX: AKL) a leader in the development of therapeutics for the treatment of pain and its wholly owned subsidiary, PharmaForm, a leader in the contract pharmaceutical development and manufacturing business, today announced that it has reached agreement with HEP Davis Spring, L.P. to terminate its lease located at 9825 Spectrum Drive, Austin, Texas, eliminating $14,500,000 in future lease payment obligations to the Company.

"Execution of this termination agreement represents a significant step forward in our strategy to restructure the Company and re-focus our efforts and finances back to the Phase 3 clinical trial of the Fentanyl TAIFUN(R) project," stated Gregory M. McKee, president and chief executive officer of Akela Pharma. "We continue to work to restructure the company and are divesting non-core assets including international operations, and the net-operating-losses. We are also working towards re-initiation of both the Japanese clinical study of Fentanyl TAIFUN(R) through our Japanese partner, Teikoku Seiyaku, Inc. as well as our Phase 3 efficacy study in Europe."

As part of its agreement with HEP Davis Spring, Akela will release all funds from an associated letter-of-credit, pending TSX approval, issue 1,250,000 shares of AKL stock and make certain additional undisclosed payments.