EBD Group and Business Wire Enter Strategic Alliance

EBD Group, the leading partnering firm for the global life
sciences industry, today announced a strategic alliance with Business
Wire, the world's news distribution leader. Through this alliance,
Business Wire becomes the official news distribution service for EBD
Group's partnering business, featuring the global life sciences
partnering conferences BIO-Europe, BIO-Europe Spring and BioDevice
Partnering, in addition to hosting the conferences' online media
newsrooms.

"With the growth of our international partnering conferences, more
and more companies are leveraging Business Wire as effective public
relations platforms for communicating strategic messages to biotech
influencers. Working with Business Wire will enhance the experience of
our conferences, enabling important conference-generated news and
content to reach a worldwide audience," said Carola Schropp, Managing
Partner, EBD Group.

"We have been long time sponsors of EBD Group's leading biotech
partnering conferences. We are delighted to now become EBD Group's
official wire for BIO-Europe, BIO-Europe Spring and BioDevice
Partnering," said Leon Harbar, Director of Global Event Services for
Business Wire. "Working with EBD Group gives us high visibility across
key biotech geographies and provides a proven online service
infrastructure through which companies can further showcase their
products, services and IP."

Strategic partnering is playing an increasingly important role in
the success of both biotech and pharma companies, as well as the
industry as a whole. EBD Group's partnering conferences, BIO-Europe
(co-organized with the Biotechnology Industry Organization),
BIO-Europe Spring, and BioDevice Partnering play a valuable, catalytic
role in helping firms across the biotech value chain to forge new
partnerships and create new business.

The BIO-Europe event is the world's largest stand-alone
biotechnology partnering conference. Almost two thousand global
decision-makers from biotechnology, pharma and finance annually attend
BIO-Europe to identify new business opportunities and develop
strategic relationships. The next edition of BIO-Europe will be held
in Hamburg, Germany, November 12-14, 2007.

BIO-Europe Spring, the sister conference to BIO-Europe, is the
pre-eminent partnering conference held in the springtime of each year.
The next edition of BIO-Europe Spring will be held in Madrid, Spain,
April 7-9, 2008.

The previous editions of BIO-Europe and BIO-Europe Spring
generated a total of 7,000 and 4,000 partnering meetings,
respectively.

BioDevice Partnering is the leading partnering conference focused
on expediting the convergence between medtech and biotech. The
inaugural event in 2006 gathered a remarkable field of 330
international decision makers from 214 companies representing 21
different countries.

About EBD Group

EBD Group is the leading partnering firm for the global life
sciences industry. Since 1993, numerous firms have leveraged EBD
Group's partnering conferences, technology and services to identify
business opportunities and develop strategic relationships that drive
their business.

EBD Group's conferences (run in collaboration with leading
industry partners and international trade associations such as BIO and
Eucomed) include BIO-Europe, the world's largest stand-alone life
science partnering conference; BIO-Europe Spring; the investor
conference, BioEquity Europe (co-organized with BioCentury
Publications); and the convergent medical technology partnering
conference, BioDevice Partnering. EBD Group's novel, web-based,
partnering software system is also used at numerous third-party events
around the world. Outside of the conference format, EBD Group's
consultants can provide hands-on assistance for firms seeking to in-
or out-license products and technologies.

EBD Group has offices in San Diego, Munich and London. For more
information visit www.ebdgroup.com

About Business Wire

Business Wire, a Berkshire Hathaway company, is utilized by
thousands of member companies and organizations to transmit their
full-text news releases, regulatory filings, photos and other
multimedia content to journalists, news media, trade publications,
institutional and individual investors, financial
information services, regulatory authorities, Internet portals,
information web sites, business-to-business decision-makers and
consumers worldwide. With a news distribution network spanning 150
countries and 45 languages, Business Wire's multi-channel delivery
network has access to some 60 international and national news agency
networks throughout the Americas, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and
Africa.

The Business Wire news network is powered by its patented
NX high-speed data platform and supports XML, XHTML and XBRL code to
deliver the most sophisticated news file to enhance news release
interactivity, customization and search engine optimization. Business
Wire has 30 bureaus in cities including New York, San Francisco, Los
Angeles, Chicago, Boston, Miami, Paris, Frankfurt, London, Brussels,
Tokyo and Sydney with reciprocal offices throughout the world.
Business Wire was founded in 1961 by Chairman Lorry I. Lokey, veteran
journalist and public relations executive. Cathy Baron Tamraz is
president and CEO.