BIO-Europe Spring 2008 Comes to Madrid, Spain.

International Biotech, Pharma and Finance to Forge Partnerships in Madrid that Drive Their Businesses Successfully Forward

BOSTON -- EBD Group today announced that the second annual BIO-Europe Spring[TM] partnering conference will open its doors at the Municipal Conference Center, Madrid, Spain, April 7-9, 2008. Like its conference counterpart, BIO-Europe, held in the autumn of each year since 1995, BIO-Europe Spring is a primary meeting point for international biotech, pharma and finance executives to efficiently identify, engage and enter into the strategic relationships that drive their businesses successfully forward.

Based on the notable success of BIO-Europe Spring 2007 in Milan, Italy (www.bioeuropespring.com), it is anticipated that BIO-Europe Spring 2008 will draw in excess of 1,200 industry attendees from more than 35 countries, representing over 750 companies, for three days of high-level networking. BIO-Europe Spring also features the industry's most advanced Web based partnering system that conference delegates will use to generate and manage thousands of partnering meetings - the previous editions of BIO-Europe and BIO-Europe Spring saw a total of 7,000 and 4,000 partnering meetings, respectively.

EBD Group's partnering conferences, such as BIO-Europe Spring, BIO-Europe and BioDevice Partnering play a valuable and catalytic role in helping firms throughout the biotech value chain forge new partnerships. Strategic partnering is contributing an increasingly important role towards the success of biotech companies and industry at large: From 2003 to 2006, the 50 largest pharmaceutical and biotech companies formed more than 1,500 drug discovery alliances, as reported by Ernst & Young. Additionally, in 2004, ten of the top selling prescription drugs were in-licensed, and from 2000 to 2006 the top 20 pharmaceutical companies entered into approximately 1,895 alliances with biotech companies, according to PharmaVentures' PharmaDeals.

Commenting on BIO-Europe Spring 2007's value in helping achieve strategic partnering goals, Robert Wills, Vice President of Alliance Management, Johnson and Johnson, said, "The world is clearly getting smaller and it is crucial for companies like ours to reach out to cover the globe.... Holding a meeting like this in Southern Europe allows us to interact with companies we might otherwise not know existed, and to determine if there are matches between our work and theirs. One could, conceivably, schedule 30 or 40 meetings over the three-day period--which would, otherwise, take a year. By giving big pharma and small biotech an international forum in which to interact, by all measures, EBD Group's BIO-Europe Spring Partnering Conference has been a great success."

Andy Brookes, Senior Director of Business Development for Biogen Idec, International added, "As our company and the industry globalize, conferences like this provide important contacts from all over the world. We are pleased to take part in a conference with such a vibrant atmosphere."

General registration for BIO-Europe Spring will be available in July. For more information about this global partnering event for the life science industry, visit EBD Group at booth #1059 in the BIO exhibit hall or contact us at the addresses below.

BIO-Europe Spring is organized by EBD Group, and features a partnership with the Biotechnology Industry Organization and local support from PromoMadrid and Genoma Espana.

PromoMadrid, Desarrollo Internacional de Madrid, S.A. is a regional government-owned company, incorporated in 2004 with the purpose of promoting and developing the Region of Madrid internationally from an economic perspective.

Genoma Espana is the Foundation for the Development of Genomic and Proteomic Research. It is backed by the Spanish State through the Ministries of Health and Consumer Affairs and Education and Science.

About EBD Group

EBD Group is the leading partnering firm for the global biotechnology industry. Since 1993, firms in the life sciences have leveraged EBD Group's partnering conferences, technology and services to identify business opportunities and develop strategic relationships that drive their business.

EBD Group's conferences (run in collaboration with leading industry partners and international trade associations such as BIO and Eucomed) include BIO-Europe, the world's largest stand-alone life science partnering conference; BIO-Europe Spring; the investor conference, BioEquity Europe (co-organized with BioCentury Publications); and the convergent medical technology partnering conference, BioDevice Partnering. EBD's novel, web-based, partnering software system is also used at numerous third-party events around the world. Outside of the conference format, EBD Group's consultants can provide hands-on assistance for firms seeking to in- or out-license products and technologies.

EBD Group has offices in San Diego, Munich and London. For more information visit www.ebdgroup.com