AEterna Zentaris Opens Extended Study for Cetrorelix in Benign Prostatic H...( QUEBEC CITY June 10 / AEterna Zentari...)

QUEBEC CITY, June 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - AEterna Zentaris Inc. (NASDAQ: AEZS; TSX: AEZ), a global biopharmaceutical company focused on endocrine therapy and oncology, today announced the opening of an extended study in the Phase 3 program with cetrorelix pamoate for the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), a benign enlargement of the prostate, affecting more than 20 million men in the U.S. alone. Sanofi-aventis U.S. LLC entered into a previously announced agreement with AEterna Zentaris for the development, registration and marketing of cetrorelix in BPH for the U.S. market.

As a result of this collaboration between sanofi-aventis U.S. and AEterna Zentaris, patients completing two years of therapy in the North American trial of cetrorelix, NCT00449150, will be eligible to continue with cetrorelix treatment, according to treatment regimen of the ongoing Phase 3 study, until the end of 2011. Patients entering this extension study will be followed-up for safety, International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) and quality of life during the extended treatment, providing follow-up data on cetrorelix for up to 5 years.

Juergen Engel, Ph.D., President and CEO of AEterna Zentaris commented, "We have been pleased with the decision of patients and their physicians to continue into this extended period of open-label treatment follow-up, sponsored by our partner sanofi-aventis U.S. We are confident that patients and their physicians will continue into this extension, as the continuation rate of patients into the open-label part of the study remains at over 90% of those eligible to continue at week 52 and compares favorably with those reported by others.(1) We look forward to presenting the data from the double-blind portion of the study in the next quarter."

About the Phase 3 Program with Cetrorelix in BPH

Cetrorel
'/>"/>