Reality Perspectives at the 5th European C21 BioVentures Conference.

LONDON -- The 5th Annual European C21 BioInvestor (EC21) conference was held last week at the QEII Conference Centre, London. Over 250 people registered for the two-day event, from both the specialist investment community and the global biotech industry.

The first session of the conference was a new edition to EC21. The "Best in Show - Business Plan Competition," saw Dr. Jonathan Kil, President & CEO of Sound Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (SPI), receiving the trophy for the best investment merits of his business plan. SPI is an early stage biopharmaceutical company in Seattle, WA, whose goal is to develop drugs that will prevent and treat hearing loss.

The second session was chaired by G. Steven Burrill, CEO of Burrill & Company in San Francisco, California. Members of the panel included: Dr. Thomas Taapken, Partner, DVC Deutsche Venture Capital; Mr. Andrew Fraser, Director - Healthcare, 3i plc; Mr. Bernd Kastler, CEO, elbion AG; Dr. Johan Cardoen, CEO, CropDesign N.V.

The topic focused on why a U.S.-based investor, such as Burrill & Company, had six European lifescience companies in its portfolio. Mr. Burrill said that "there is value to be found in Europe for U.S. lifescience investors, but it is very important to pay attention to exits, which is a crucial element of U.S. investor strategies." He feels that more attention needs to be paid in Europe to ways to reward risk capital investment in technology companies. It often makes sense for European VC's to invest in the U.S. rather than in Europe. Nevertheless, he continues to see new opportunities in Europe.

Throughout the two-day conference, there were 33 company presentations. The various networking sessions held during both days provided the delegates and presenters with the opportunity to discuss issues raised during the conference in greater detail. Mr. Flemming Pedersen, Executive Vice President and CFO, NeuroSearch A/S, said that the conference met his expectations: "It was well organised and was attended with a good representation from the investor community, which is the most important for me. I also met with interesting companies where we will further exploit possible collaborations in various areas."

Commenting on the conference, Dr. Robert Lee Kilpatrick, Partner, Technology Vision Group LLC, the conference producer, said: "EC21 has offered companies the opportunity to meet with serious investors and other biotech companies for business opportunities. It has also reflected the realities on the ground of investing in biotech companies. We have seen that there is a real shortage of capital for young biotech companies in Europe, and many are now looking beyond Europe for capital, technical and human resources. Because the European companies and investors are now more globally focused, I expect EC21 to be adapted to meet the new realities in the industry for 2006."

About EC21:

Producer: Technology Vision Group LLC

Presenting Companies included: Ablynx, ACE BioSciences A/S, Affymax, Inc., Atugen AG, Austrianova Biotechnology, Avidex, BioVex Limited, BioXell SpA, Direvo Biotech AG, ESBATech AG, Favrille, Inc., InNexus Biotechnology Inc., Intercell AG, KAI Pharmaceuticals Inc., Lectus Therapeutics Ltd, Metabometrix Limited, MNLpharma Ltd., NeuroSearch A/S, Novexin Ltd, NOXXON Pharma AG, OctoPlus, Oncolytics Biotech Inc., Oxford Genome Sciences, PIramed Ltd., Remergent, Inc., Scil Technology GmbH, Sidec Technologies AB, Synexa Life Sciences, Thiakis Limited, Trigen Ltd, Xanthus Life Sciences, Inc., Xantos Biomedicine AG, and YM BioSciences Inc.

Sponsors: Burrill & Company, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, EuropaBio, and London Development Agency (BioLondon), and London Stock Exchange.

Supporters: 3i, Apax Partners, Atlas Ventures, BioMedinvest AG, BioWorld Today, Business Wire, Capital MS&L, De Facto Communications plc, DVC Deutsche Venture Capital, Earlybird, Ferghana Partners Group, F&C, HBM Partners, Index Ventures, Investor Growth Capital, Lehman Brothers, Nomura, Quest Management NV, Red Herring, Techno Venture Management, and Warburg Pincus.