Pharming Group N.V. (AMS:PHARM) Pharming Announces Reduction Of € 20 Million Debt And Improvement Of Balance Sheet

Pharming Group N.V. (AMS:PHARM) Leiden, The Netherlands, December 8, 2008. Biotech company Pharming Group NV ("Pharming" or "the Company") (NYSE Euronext: PHARM) announced today that it has reached an agreement with several holders of convertible bonds to cancel outstanding debt by payments in cash and shares.

Convertible bonds with a nominal value of € 20.1 million will be cancelled by a payment of € 3.8 million and conversion of the remaining € 16.3 million in shares at a valuation of € 2.64 per share. Total shares issued in relation to the conversion are approximately 6.2 million, increasing the Company's number of outstanding shares after conversion to 97.4 million.

Convertible bonds with a total nominal value of € 70 million were issued by Pharming in October 2007. They have a 5 year lifetime and yield an annual nominal interest of 6.875%. Due to conditions in the global financial markets, several holders of these bonds have expressed their desire to redeem the bonds at an early stage albeit at a significant discount. Pharming considers this situation as an opportunity to strengthen its balance sheet at favorable terms for the Company.

Dr. Sijmen de Vries, Chief Executive Officer at Pharming, commented: "The transactions announced today are an important step in improving our balance sheet by reduction of debt and by increasing our equity position. We have been able to satisfy the short term needs of some of the convertible bond holders by combining them with our intention to strengthen our financial position. In addition, this debt settlement reduces our annual bond interest payments by approximately € 1.4 million. We look forward to arranging similar deals with other holders of convertible bonds. Pharming is well positioned for further growth with an improving balance sheet, promising products nearing the market, strong partnerships and a relatively strong financial position.

Given the favorable terms of this deal, the recent € 20 million Lactoferrin licensing agreement and the existing financial condition of the Company, its cash position is more than sufficient to execute the current transaction. Pharming is, however, still considering options to improve its financial position further. Such options include (combinations of) project-specific financing, licensing deals, loans and limited equity transactions."

About Pharming Group NV Pharming Group NV is developing innovative products for the treatment of genetic disorders, ageing diseases, specialty products for surgical indications, intermediates for various applications and nutritional products. Pharming has two products in late stage development - Rhucin® for Hereditary Angioedema and human lactoferrin for use in food products. The advanced technologies of the Company include innovative platforms for the production of protein therapeutics, technology and processes for the purification and formulation of these products, as well as technology in the field of DNA repair (via DNage). Additional information is available on the Pharming website, http://www.pharming.com.

This press release contains forward looking statements that involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Company to be materially different from the results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward looking statements.

Contact:

Carina Hamaker, Investor Voice, T: +31 (0)6 537 499 59 or T: +31 (0)71 52 47 400 Julia Phillips (UK), Financial Dynamics, T: +44 (0)20 7269 7187 or T: +44 (0)7770 827 263 Samir Singh (US), Pharming Group NV, T: +1 908 720 6224 Rein Strijker, Pharming Group NV, T: +31 (0)71 52 47 400

This announcement was originally distributed by Hugin. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.



LINK: http://hugin.info/132866/R/1275936/284076.pdf

Pharming Group N.V.

http://www.pharming.com

ISIN: NL0000377018

Stock Identifier: XAMS.PHARM

US: PINKSHEETS: PHGUF