Spherix Announces Termination of Arla License...( Agreement Enables Spherix to Pursue A...)

Agreement Enables Spherix to Pursue All Pharmaceutical and Health-Oriented Nutraceutical Uses of Naturlose

BETHESDA, Md., June 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Spherix Incorporated (Nasdaq: SPEX), an innovator in biotechnology for diabetes therapy, and a provider of technical and regulatory consulting services to food, supplement, biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, today announced that it has terminated the 1996 license agreement pursuant to which it granted Arla Foods Ingredients Amba ("Arla") the food and beverage rights to D-tagatose. Per the termination agreement, Spherix and Arla have fully released one another from all obligations.

"While we recognize the potential value that D-tagatose has as a food and beverage additive, we are currently focusing on the potentially more profitable uses of tagatose (brand name "Naturlose(R)") as a novel pharmaceutical treatment for Type 2 diabetes. Spherix is very satisfied with the progress of the clinical trials for Naturlose, currently in Phase 3, and recently announced full-scale cGMP manufacturing of the compound. Leaving open the option to use D-tagatose in both foods or beverages, and as a pharmaceutical compound, provides Spherix with greater flexibility and long-term upside," said Dr. Claire Kruger, CEO of Spherix. Nutraceutical or functional foods (foods with health-promoting or dietary management properties beyond the basic function of supplying nutrients) are a growing segment of the industry due to their increasing popularity with health-conscious consumers.

Spherix is currently investigating Naturlose as a treatment for Type 2 diabetes in a Phase 3 clinical trial. The company expects preliminary results from this Phase 3 study in the fall of 2009, and plans to file a New Drug Application (NDA) with the FDA shortly after the conclusion of the Phase 3 st
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