ZymeQuest Officials among Authors of Blood Platelet Refrigeration Study Published in Latest Issue of Science Journal.

Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers

BEVERLY, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 11, 2003

Research Describing New Technique for Prolonging Life of Cell

Fragments Could Benefit Patients Needing Life-Saving Transfusions

ZymeQuest(R), Inc. Director Thomas P. Stossel, M.D., and Chief Science Officer Henrik Clausen, DDS, D.Sc., are among the authors of a study, published in the September 12 issue of the journal Science, that may have important implications for the techniques used to store blood platelets for life-saving transfusions.

The findings of the study, "Platelet Refrigeration Method May Ease Shortages for Transfusions," were released today by the magazine's publisher, the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

As reported by the AAAS, "A new method for treating and chilling blood platelets may prolong their shelf-life by a week or more, helping to ease chronic shortages that endanger patients needing platelet transfusions. Platelets, the cell fragments in blood that help make clots to stop bleeding, must currently be stored at room temperature for a limit of five days. After this period, the platelets must be thrown away, because they no longer function properly and their risk of bacterial contamination increases sharply. Shortages in donated platelet supplies can have serious consequences, because patients awaiting platelet transfusions need them urgently. These patients are typically bleeding severely, after major surgeries or accidents, or they may have undergone chemotherapy or bone marrow transplants."

Chilling the platelets helps lengthen their storage period, but these platelets die quickly once they are transfused into the body. If the method cited in the study works for human patients, it could increase the platelet supply and make this blood component easier to transport. With the aging population in the U.S. and the number of young donors decreasing, having to discard platelets is a significant cost to blood centers.

Dr. Stossel, a lead author of the study, is the American Cancer Society Clinical Research Professor of Medicine at the Harvard Medical School, Co-Director and Senior Physician of the Hematology Division at Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston and a member of ZymeQuest's(R) Board of Directors. Dr. Clausen, a co-author of the study, is ZymeQuest's chief science officer. He also serves as Senior Associate Professor, Faculty of Health Sciences, at the University of Copenhagen and has an appointment at the Harvard Medical School.

About the American Association for the Advancement of Science

Founded in 1848, AAAS has worked to advance science for human well-being through its projects, programs, and publications, in the areas of science policy, science education and international scientific cooperation. AAAS and its journal, Science, report nearly 140,000 individual and institutional subscribers, plus 272 affiliated organizations in more than 130 countries, serving a total of 10 million individuals. Thus, AAAS is the world's largest general federation of scientists. Science is an editorially independent, multidisciplinary, peer-reviewed weekly that ranks among the world's most prestigious scientific journals. AAAS administers EurekAlert! (http://www.eurekalert.org), the online news service, featuring the latest discoveries in science and technology.

About ZymeQuest, Inc.

ZymeQuest, a private, development-stage company, is a worldwide leader in the discovery, development and commercialization of blood conversion products for use in blood transfusion medicine. ZymeQuest intends to use its proprietary technology to develop, manufacture and sell blood-processing systems that enable the precise and permanent conversion of groups A, B and AB red blood cells to group O "universal" red blood cells.