BIOPROTEIN, UROGENE-CHRYSALON AND ESSONNE COUNTY DEVELOPMENT AGENCY TEAM UP TO OPEN A REPRESENTATIVE OFFICE IN BOSTON

The Paris Region BioTeam Consortium Formed to Promote the Paris Region Biotech in the US

Paris, France … BioProtein Technologies, the Biotechnology Company specializing in the production of therapeutic proteins in the milk of transgenic rabbits, UroGene-Chrysalon, Biopharmaceutical Company developing targeted therapeutics in Urology and the Essonne County Development Agency announce today the creation of the Paris Region BioTeam Consortium and the opening of its office in Boston, MA, USA. The office will be headed by Carine Saloff-Coste and will act as a permanent representative in the US for the three partners. This presence in the US will support development and partnering opportunities for the members of the Consortium with the prestigious companies and research centers housed in the Massachusetts region.

Marc Le Bozec, CEO of BioProtein Technologies commented: “I am very happy about this initiative and I am confident that BioProtein Technologies will benefit from having access to the exciting research and commercial opportunities that exist in the Boston area. We are sure that our new office will enable us to market more effectively the attractions of transgenic rabbits for the production of proteins within this important biotech community.”

Pierre Bélichard, VP Business Development of UroGene-Chrysalon added: “ This office is a great opportunity for UroGene-Chrysalon to become a real player of the biotech cluster of Massachusetts. It will facilitate the development of research collaborations and partnerships between UroGene-Chrysalon and companies and universities of the Boston area.”

Patrick Cheenne, Senior Director Networking & Investment of the Essonne County Development Agency, said: “This is a major step in the process of giving access to global markets to biotech companies based in the Paris Region cluster through long term partnerships with prominent clusters such as Boston and Massachusetts”.

The Boston-based office will represent the Paris Region BioTeam Consortium and will serve as its main support for partnership and business activities in the US. Massachusetts is a very dynamic biotech area, with world-class R&D offering numerous commercial and research partnership opportunities for the members of the consortium. The office has received support and been welcomed by the French Consulate, the Invest in France Agency and the French American Chamber of Commerce.

The Paris Region BioTeam Consortium is part of the Paris Region BioTeam network and was created upon the initiative of BioProtein Technologies, Urogene-Chrysalon and Essonne Development Agency to strengthen the network activities. Paris Region BioTeam is a network of companies, universities, research organizations and government development agencies from the Paris region, dedicated to promote internationally the region’s world-class biotech capabilities. Since its creation in 2001, the network has successfully organized initiatives in the United States, Japan and Germany, including participation at the BIO meeting.

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Notes to the Editors

About BioProtein Technologies
www.bioprotein.com

BioProtein Technologies is the world leader in the production of recombinant proteins in the milk of transgenic rabbits. The Company’s unique contract manufacturing capabilities have been designed to meet the increasing demands of the pharmaceutical and the biotechnology industries for therapeutic protein production. Rabbits offer great advantages in terms of scale-up and time-to-market and can produce up to 10-15 liters of milk per year. From the annual production of 400 rabbits, up to 5-10 kg of protein can be isolated and purified to a very high quality.

BioProtein Technologies has a strong expertise through the entire manufacturing process from genes or cDNA expression to animal production. The Company is using high quality science, for example from INRA, as the foundation for building BioProtein Technologies into a world-leading producer of therapeutic proteins. The Company has produced complex and difficult-to-express proteins, including monoclonal antibodies, plasma proteins, hormones and vaccinating antigens, all of which demonstrates BioProtein Technologies’ ability to fulfill the most rigorous specifications in protein production.

As a corporation, BioProtein Technologies recognizes that it has a specific responsibility towards the animals that it generates and breeds for the production of therapeutic proteins. The Company conducts its animal research and development according to the highest ethical standards.

The Company was founded in 1998 and successfully completed its first € 5 million financial round in May 2001.

About Urogene-Chrysalon
www.urogene.com

UroGene is a urology drug discovery company whose objective is to become a leader in the areas of urological disorders biology and pharmaceuticals. This fields includes both cancer (e.g., prostate, bladder) and urinary dysfunctions (e.g., benign prostate hypertrophy, overactive bladder, interstitial cystitis), which affects 50 million people in the US alone. The company was founded in 1998 by leading scientists in the field of Urology to enable the discovery and development of new therapies for this large and relatively untapped market. UroGene employs 55 people, including 20 chemists and 21 biologists.

By accessing well characterized prostate cancer tissues from major clinical centers, UroGene’s biologists have discovered, validated (RNAi, proprietary cell lines and animal models) and developed innovative drug target. The acquisition of Chrysalon is bringing to UroGene a unique chemistry-driven strategy and expertise to deliver small molecule chemotherapeutics for tose targets, while continuing to grow its portfolio of chemical services customers. In the context of early discovery, the medicinal chemistry and chemoinformatics teams at Chrysalon work together at all stages of the proprietary Chemical BreedingTM approach to identify novel class of compounds. In the context of hit and lead optimizations, these experienced teams combine the element of modern drug discovery to advance compounds toward medicinally valuable entities. This platform rapidly provides intellectual property and pharmaceutically relevant molecules.

UroGene’s business model is based on a combination of innovative internal research programs as well as in-licensing high quality compounds at late preclinical or early clinical stage. The company is currently developing four internal projects dedicated to finding new treatments for various stages of prostate and bladder cancer, and advanced negotiations will bring urological compounds into its clinical development pipeline.

UroGene SA completed its second round of financing, raising 12 millions euros in March 2003.

About Essonne County Development Agency
www.ed-partners.org

The Essonne County Development Agency has been managing a development initiative under the name “BioTeam Paris Region” to link biotech clusters in France (Paris Region), Germany (Berlin), Japan(Osaka-KansaI) and the USA (Boston-Massachusetts). These initiatives tend to foster global development for Paris Region BioTeam members and help counterpart biotechs with partnerships and location solutions. The objective of Essonne County Development Agency is to provide assistance with expansion projects:
1. biotech to biotech partnerships, throughout a very active network;
2. research partnership with R&D centers (like the Pasteur Institute) and hospitals;
3. location solutions, through a one-stop-shop organization with proven experience, regarding start-ups as well as major players (like the Dannon R&D center).

The Essonne County Development Agency supports expansion plans, including business location, partnerships, and growth, by putting together network of expertise and resources, including our team of experienced project managers to provide one-stop-shop in real estate, human resources and financial support. We work in four languages: English, French, German and Japanese.