Huntingdon Just One of Stephens' Biotech Investments.

More Than a Dozen Other 'Life Sciences' Companies Receive Funding

HUNTINGDON LIFE SCIENCES, the British research laboratory reviled by animal rights activists, is getting all the attention, but The Stephens Group also has investments in more than a dozen other biotech companies.

A brochure published earlier this year listed 32 different companies in which Stephens Inc., The Stephens Group Inc.'s investment banking subsidiary, has "principal investments." Thirteen of them -- more than a third -- are categorizes as "life sciences" companies.

The list doesn't include HLS.

Stephens spokesman Frank Thomas said the company would not discuss the extent of its investments in any of the companies. He defined a principal investment as "any company that Stephens puts its money into" and said the investments listed in the brochure had been made in 2000 and in the first half of 2001.

No information was available for one of the companies, Via Cell. Here's a rundown of the other 12 life sciences investments included in the Stephens Inc. brochure, much of it gleaned from the companies' Internet sites:

* Zycos Inc. of Lexington, Mass., is a privately held company whose stated mission is to "convert genes into drugs, faster." The company's Web site (www.zycos.com) says it has raised more than $50 million in venture capital, and it lists nine "major investors," including Stephens Inc.

* NeuColl Inc. of Campbell, Calif., is a privately held spin-off of publicly traded Cohesion Technologies Inc. of Palo Alto, Calif., (Nasdaq: CSON). It has exclusive license to more than 50 patented uses for collagen and polymer in skeletal repair and osteoarthritis treatment. According to NeuColl's Web site, www.neucoll.com, Stephens Inc. is one of two "committed investors." The size of the investment is not revealed, but Cohesion now owns less than half of the company.

* NeuroVasx Inc. of Maple Grove, Minn., is a privately held company founded in 1997 to develop treatments for stroke patients. In October 2000, NeuroVasx announced that it had received $3 million in venture financing from The Stephens Group.

* GMP Companies Inc. of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., is a privately held collection of business units that commercialize discoveries that have been licensed from their developers. In November 2000, GMP notified the Securities and Exchange Commission of its intention to go public "as soon as practicable," but no initial public offering has followed.

* Cytran Inc. of Kirkland, Wash., is a 10-year-old, private biopharmaceutical company "dedicated to developing and commercializing small peptides for the treatment of cancer and other diseases," according to its Web site, www.cytran.com. Its lead drug, IM 862, was developed by the Kirov Medical Institute in St. Petersburg, Russia, and Cytran has worldwide rights to its commercialization. It is being tested on a number of different cancers. In November 2000, Cytran announced that The Stephens Group was one of two lead investors in a $17 million private placement of convertible debentures.

* AviGenics Inc. of Athens, Ga., is a true genetic research company. Founded in 1996, AviGenics is using chicken eggs as a platform for developing human medicines and also cloning poultry and developing poultry that is genetically engineered to resist diseases. In October 2000, AviGenics announced that The Stephens Group was the lead investor in a $10 million round of venture capital funding.

* Burrill & Co. of San Francisco is not a "life sciences" company itself; it is a private investment bank that manages venture capital funds that are invested in life sciences companies. Stephens Group is listed on the Burrill & Co. Web site, www.burrillandco.com, as a limited partner in the company.

* ValiGen NV of Newtown, Pa., is another genetic research company. It uses proprietary gene-modification technology, a functional genomics engine and databases for drug validation for the production of genetically engineered plants. ValiGen is also one of the companies in which Burrill & Co. has invested.

* AgraQuest of Davis, Calif., is a "natural product" pesticide company. In April 2000, Stephens was identified as one of two new investors, along with some repeat investors, in a $7.2 million private stock placement. In August 2001, it notified the SEC of its intent to go public. Stephens Inc. will be one of the co-managers of the initial public offering's underwriting group. AgraQuest is also one of the companies in which Burrill & Co. has invested.

* Ortec International Inc. of New York is a publicly traded (Nasdaq: ORTC) company that has developed and patented a product called Composite Cultured Skin, which is used to stimulate the repair and regeneration of human skin, particularly in burn victims. It had $163,000 in revenue, primarily from interest income, during the six months ended June 30 and a net loss of $7.2 million. Its stock trades in the $4-$S range.

* Raymedica Inc. of Minneapolis, named for its founder, Dr. Charles Ray, owns and markets a patented "hydrogel" prosthetic spinal disc nucleus that is implanted in back surgery patients. When the company announced a $14.7 million private placement of common stock, "existing" investors, including The Stephens Group, bought 20 percent of the new shares.

* Prolifix Medical Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif., is a private coronary treatment company that in March announced the completion of human trials for its device to treat the problem of reblocked arteries that have been propped open with stents.

Of the other 19 principal investments listed in the Stephens Inc. brochure, nine were identified as information and communications companies, four as "power solutions," three as financial services and two as retail and consumer companies.

The remaining company was Staffmark Inc., the staffing agency that Stephens bought from Edgewater Technologies Inc. of Wakefield, Mass., (formerly known as StaffMark Inc. of Fayetteville).