CombiMatrix and Novavax to Collaborate on Technology for Influenza Vaccine.

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. -- Acacia Research Corporation (Nasdaq:CBMX)(Nasdaq:ACTG) announced today that its CombiMatrix group is collaborating with Novavax (Nasdaq:NVAX) on development of a technique for in-process monitoring of vaccine production.

Traditional flu-vaccine development involves an arcane process of viral amplification in chicken eggs, followed by a lengthy process of inactivation, sterilization, and packaging. This method is very time consuming and does not allow rapid response to quickly evolving threats. In the case of H5N1 bird flu, the threat is that the strain now present will mutate or recombine to form a new strain that will be easily transmissible among humans and have high mortality rates. If such a new strain appears, traditional flu-vaccine development and production will likely be too slow to ramp up to cover the world's need.

CombiMatrix is developing a technique designed to improve the process of synthetic vaccine production by tracking the genetic fidelity of the genes encoding the vaccine in the fermentation process. Such a method would be a significant advance for large-scale synthetic production processes and could help speed FDA regulatory processes. The method is designed to be both inexpensive and fast. CombiMatrix and Novavax are now collaborating to test efficacy of the method on Novavax's VLP process for producing H5N1 bird-flu vaccine.

"CombiMatrix's belief is that, for a variety of reasons, the world needs the ability to design new vaccines and to produce them much more rapidly than it can today," said Amit Kumar, Ph.D., President and CEO of CombiMatrix. "Reasons include the possibility of rapidly evolving natural threats such as bird flu and SARS as well as increased terrorist activity throughout the world. Novavax is working on technology to greatly speed vaccine development and production. Now CombiMatrix has the potential to make contributions to vaccine response as well. This procedure will be useful for other vaccine development programs in the future. This collaboration fits synergistically with our efforts in DNA arrays, defense-related work, drug development, and diagnostics."

ABOUT ACACIA RESEARCH CORPORATION

Acacia Research Corporation comprises two operating groups: Acacia Technologies Group and CombiMatrix Group.

The CombiMatrix group is developing a platform technology to rapidly produce customizable arrays, which are semiconductor-based tools for use in identifying and determining the roles of genes, gene mutations and proteins. The CombiMatrix's group's technology has a wide range of potential applications in the areas of genomics, proteomics, biosensors, drug discovery, drug development, diagnostics, combinatorial chemistry, material sciences and nanotechnology.

The Acacia Technologies group develops, acquires, and licenses patented technologies. Acacia controls 33 patent portfolios, which include over 130 U.S. patents, and certain foreign counterparts, covering technologies used in a wide variety of industries including audio/video enhancement & synchronization, broadcast data retrieval, computer memory cache coherency, credit card fraud protection, database management, data encryption & product activation, digital media transmission (DMT(R)), digital video production, dynamic manufacturing modeling, enhanced Internet navigation, high resolution optics, image resolution enhancement, interactive data sharing, interactive television, hearing aid ECS, interstitial Internet advertising, laptop docking station connectivity, microprocessor enhancement, multi-dimensional bar codes, network data storage, resource scheduling, rotational video imaging and spreadsheet automation.

Acacia Research-Acacia Technologies (Nasdaq:ACTG) and Acacia Research-CombiMatrix (Nasdaq:CBMX) are both classes of common stock issued by Acacia Research Corporation and are intended to reflect the performance of the respective operating groups and are not issued by the operating groups.

Information about the Acacia Technologies Group and the CombiMatrix Group is available at www.acaciaresearch.com.

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This news release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based upon our current expectations and speak only as of the date hereof. Our actual results may differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statements as a result of various factors and uncertainties, including the economic slowdown affecting technology companies, our ability to successfully develop products, rapid technological change in our markets, changes in demand for our future products, legislative, regulatory and competitive developments and general economic conditions. Our Annual Report on Form 10-K, recent and forthcoming Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, recent Current Reports on Forms 8-K and 8-K/A, and other SEC filings discuss some of the important risk factors that may affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. We undertake no obligation to revise or update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason.