The First Biotechnology Company That Measures Telomeres

Dr. María Blasco, the Botín Foundation and Matlin Associates Establish Life Length, S.L.

MADRID, December 15, 2010 - Life Length, S.L. is a new biotechnology company set up to
measure the length of telomeres which form caps at the end of chromosomes and
that have a fundamental role in avoiding the break down and the aging of
cells and organisms. The breakthroughs that Dr. Maria Blasco has made at the
Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (Centro Nacional de Investigaciones
Oncológicas, or CNIO) in Madrid, Spain form the founding basis of the
company. Telomeres are the best known measure of biological, as opposed to
chronological, age and are potential indicators of the state of health of an
organism.

(Logo: www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20101215/426328 )

Life Length, S.L. has been established to commercially exploit
telomere length measuring techniques (initially as indicators of biological
age), providing them to the pharmaceutical industry, hospitals and clinics,
as well as other research laboratories interested in the measurement of
telomeres.

The founding capital of Life Length, S.L. has been provided by
Dr. Blasco, the Botín Foundation and Matlin Associates, a corporate finance
and strategic consulting firm that will manage the company until new partners
are incorporated.

The importance of telomeres was recognized in last year's
Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine. Studies with genetically modified
mice from María Blasco's research group have shown that telomeres are
essential to preserve the regenerative capacity of tissues and organs to the
extent that when their length is cut back below a critical point, the
organism begins to age. The technique developed by Dr. Blasco and the CNIO
team measures short telomeres with superior precision to other known
techniques.

Dr. Blasco was awarded this year's "Santiago Ramón y Cajal"
National Research Prize, as well as the Pre-Clinical Research Prize of the
Lilly Foundation. In the past, she has also been awarded the Gold Medal of
the European Organization of Molecular Biology (EMBO), the Korber Prize of
European Science, the Josef Steiner Prize of Cancer Research, the King Jaime
I Prize for Basic Research and the Carmen and Severo Ochoa Prize, amongst
others.

    Life Length, S.L.: www.lifelength.com
    For more information:
    Jaime de Piniés, Piniés & Aguilar Asociados
    +34-91-183-2101; jdepinies@pinies-aguilar.com

For more information: Jaime de Piniés, Piniés & Aguilar Asociados, +34-91-183-2101; jdepinies at pinies-aguilar.com