Financing Opportunities and Success at the Forefront at BioTrinity

NEWBURY, England, April 14, 2011 - The first day of BioTrinity, Europe's fastest growing
early-stage investment and partnering event focused on the lifesciences
industry, was attended by a record number of delegates. Key note talks and
panel discussions addressed the major issues for lifescience companies and
also highlighted recent successes and ongoing investment opportunities.

One of the key panels "Success During Crisis" brought together
company CEOs to discuss how they had delivered recent IPOs and M&A. It was
chaired by Olivier Litzka, Partner, Edmond de Rothschild Investment Partners.
He said, "Our panel showed that our industry is very much de-coupled from the
broader financial cycle. The pharma industry needs to increase its pipelines
and companies that address that problem can generate great successes even at
times of crisis. We had four very strong businesses on the panel who've
delivered real progress and value despite the difficult economic
environment."

He added that BioTrinity had become a key event in the
European lifesciences calendar: "There has certainly been an impressive
increase in activity and quality both in terms of companies and attendees
from investors, and particularly VCs. There is good attendance from outside
the UK now but for us this is the best event to see early-stage UK
lifescience companies."

Turning to the public markets, another panel "Private Equity
to Public Markets: Is AIM an Exit" included company executives and investment
firms to discuss their experiences. Despite a general view that these are
difficult times for classical drug development biotechnology companies,
particularly in the UK, it was stressed that did not mean that the public
markets are closed for lifesciences businesses.

James Steel, Head of Healthcare & Lifesciences at the broker
Peel Hunt, said: "Despite the recent issues in the drug development sector,
it is very clear that there are a number of hot areas in the broader
lifesciences space for public market investors. There is a scarcity of high
quality, more mature businesses in areas like diagnostics, medical devices,
specialty pharma and pharma services. Investors are very aware that the
current pressures in the wider healthcare and pharma sectors present a number
of opportunities and are very keen to see companies that are well placed to
offer cost savings and improved patient outcomes."

The conference was opened with a VIP address from Professor
Colin Blakemore, Professor of Neuroscience, University of Oxford who
discussed the need to deliver on the promise of UK lifesciences research and
address the very particular challenges presented by the economic downturn.
Other panels on day one included What's New in Corporate Venture? Is
Corporate Venture Replacing Traditional Venture? with panelists from new and
established corporate venture firms discussing differing trends and models.
The panel also saw the announcement of f-star's EUR15m financing deal led by
SR One, the corporate venture capital arm of GlaxoSmithKline, and also
including Atlas Venture, Aescap Venture, Novo Ventures, TVM Capital, Merck
Serono Ventures and MP Healthcare Venture Management. Positioning your
Company for Merger & Acquisition - Global Perspectives session included
panelists from Europe and China.

BioTrinity showcases some of the best UK emerging and
clinical-stage companies, offering delegates unrivalled access to
face-to-face meetings with senior partnering executives, helping them work
towards achieving their business and partnering goals and objectives.

About OBN

OBN is a not-for-profit business network which provides
comprehensive support for its member biotech and medtech companies in the
Oxford and South-East England biocluster and the rest of the UK. Our
activities can be summarised as networking, partnering, group purchasing,
advice and information dissemination. Through its delivery of Europe's
fastest growing biopartnering and investment conference, BioTrinity, OBN
generates more R&D-company-to-investor interactions than anyone else in
Europe. OBN is sponsored by Shire, as Corporate Patron, and Corporate
Sponsors MEPC, Manches LLP, James Cowper, Red Moon Executive Search, PiR
Interims, SRG, FOCUS Insurance, World Courier and Citigate Dewe Rogerson as
well as by its extensive membership of R&D companies and other companies
across the entire life sciences industry ecosystem. OBN counts nearly 200
companies amongst its membership, which is growing about 45% per year.

    Contacts

    OBN
    Jon Rees
    Tel: +44(0)7795-233883
    jon.rees@obn.org.uk

    Citigate Dewe Rogerson

    Chris Gardner
    T: +44(0)20-7638-9571
    chris.gardner@citigatedr.co.uk

Contacts: OBN, Jon Rees, Tel: +44(0)7795-233883, jon.rees at obn.org.uk ; Citigate Dewe Rogerson, Chris Gardner, T: +44(0)20-7638-9571, chris.gardner at citigatedr.co.uk