BIO Announces Companies Selected to Present at the First Annual Bio(R) National Venture Conference.

Conference Will Be Held April 22-23 at the Hyatt Regency Cambridge, Massachusetts 

WASHINGTON -- The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) today announced the first 32 companies selected through a competitive screening process to present at the inaugural BIO National Venture Conference. A total of 50 presenting companies will be posted on the conference website on a rolling basis. To view the newly published list, please visit: http://bnvc.bio.org/opencms/BioVenture/2008/Program/Participating Companies.html (Due to its length, this URL may need to be copied/pasted into your Internet browser's address field. Remove the extra space if one exists.)

In addition, more than 60 venture capital (VC) firms have registered for the event, and over half of the more than 100 VC attendees are managing partners, managing directors, or vice presidents.

Select early-stage private biotech companies were nominated by the VC investment community using criteria developed by an Advisory Committee. Serving on the committee are the following individuals:

* Fred Craves, PhD, Bay City Capital

* James Healy, MD, PhD, Sofinnova Ventures

* Stephen Hoffman, MD, PhD, Skyline Ventures

* Michael Lytton, JD, MSc, Oxford Bioscience Partners

* Mike Raab, New Enterprise Associates

* David Schnell, MD, Prospect Venture Partners

* Andy Schwab, 5AM Ventures

Companies were initially screened from a pool of 256 including those nominated by 11 VC firms. The Advisory Committee further narrowed this list using a highly competitive selection process.

"Innovative technologies and product platforms as well as strong management teams and intellectual property positions distinguish our first year's company nominations," said Alan Eisenberg, Executive Vice President, Emerging Companies & Business Development at BIO. "Our presenters were screened through a unique, competitive process, and are new companies that have not attained significant visibility."

The first annual BIO National Venture Conference, co-hosted by the National Venture Capital Association, will bring together an elite group of venture capital investors with fledgling, high quality biotechnology companies and larger company business development executives for a one and half day event. In addition to company presentations, these investors and executives will participate in One-on-One meetings using the BIO Partnering System. This conference will also feature five panels featuring clinical and therapeutic area leaders.

For a complete roster of the attending venture capital firms or to view the latest program, please visit http://bnvc.bio.org. Advance media registration is now available at http://bnvc.bio.org/opencms/BioVenture/2008/Registration/media.jsp.

Upcoming BIO Events

BIO-Europe Spring 2008
April 7-9, 2008
Madrid, Spain

BIO National Venture Conference
April 22-23, 2008
Boston, Mass.

World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology & BioProcessing
April 27-30, 2008
Chicago, Ill.

2008 BIO International Convention
June 17-20, 2008
San Diego, Calif.

About BIO

BIO represents more than 1,200 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations across the United States and in more than 30 other nations. BIO members are involved in the research and development of innovative healthcare, agricultural, industrial and environmental biotechnology technologies. BIO also produces the annual BIO International Convention, the world's largest gathering of the biotechnology industry, along with industry-leading investor and partnering meetings held around the world.