EVRY, FRANCE, JANUARY 27, 2005

BIOSYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL:
FIRST ROUND FUNDRAISING OF 3 MILLION EUROS

In an economically harsh environment for the financing of French biotechnology companies, Biosystems International has successfully concluded its first round fundraising with Societe Generale Asset Management through their FCPI Gen-I and SOGE Innovation funds.

Biosystems Internationl and Societe Generale Asset Management have succusfully concluded an investment protocol by which Biosystems International will receive 3 million euros in two installments. “This investment is not only a sign of confidence on the part of our investor but also recognition of the credibility and maturity of our project,” said Laszlo Takacs, CEO and CSO of Biosystems International. “One important aspect that helped convince the investors: the entire team (7 members in France) comes from industry (Pfizer) and the operations are managed by Francois Liebaert, who comes from the pharmaceutical and diagnostic industries (Schering and Abbott).”

Created in May, 2004, by Laszlo Takacs – previously director of the Genomics and Bioinformatics group at the Pfizer research center of Fresnes – and three international proteomics and separation sciences specialists (Andras Guttman, William Hancock, and Barry Karger), the objective of Biosystems International is to create a new standard in the research and discovery of biomarkers suitable for clinical development and the development of diagnostic tests. The technology platform and expertise of the Biosystems International team permit the identification of disease or pathology-specific biomarkers within the short timeframe compatible with the constraints of drug development. Biomarkers which make it possible to diagnose a disease, follow its progression, or evaluate drug efficacy are crucial for the pharmaceutical industry. They are expected to result in a significant reduction in the cost and duration of clinical trials and improve the clinical follow-up of patients.

In the short term, revenue will be generated by providing biomarker discovery services for pharmaceutical partners while mid and long term earnings will be generated by the development and commercialization of diagnostic tests possibly in collaboration with diagnostic companies.

For the company which has been awarded the status of “young innovative enterprise” and which has received aide from the National Agency for Innovation in their “recruitment for innovation” program, 2005 has started out well. Biosystems International has also been awarded a research grant of 0.5 million euros from the Hungarian Ministry of Research. These funds will be used to finance a portion of the collaborative research projects between the Hungarian subsidiary of Biosystems International (in the process of being created) and the University of Debrecen.

The company is currently in late-phase contract negotiations with two international pharmaceutical companies and in early phase discussions to address partnership possibilities with a European biotech and an American bioinformatics company.