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First “plantibody” patent issued:

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050331/clth016.html?.v=4

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Biolex Announces Broad Patent Covering Treatment of Humans With Plant-Made Antibodies

- Patent Further Strengthens Biolex' Plantibodies(TM) IP Portfolio

PITTSBORO, N.C., March 31 /PRNewswire/ -- Biolex, Inc., a privately held protein therapeutics company, today announced the issuance of a patent that broadly claims methods for immunizing a human or non-human animal against an antigen by administering an antibody produced by transgenic plants. This is the first patent ever awarded for the use of "plantibodies" (plant-made antibodies) to treat humans. Biolex now has exclusive rights to five U.S. patents in its Plantibodies portfolio, giving the company coverage for the production of antibodies in transgenic plants and their use to treat humans.

Therapeutic antibodies form the fastest growing segment of the pharmaceutical industry, with 17 currently approved in the United States. According to Datamonitor, the market is expected to more than triple in value between 2002 and 2008 from $5.4 billion to $16.7 billion.

The patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, number 6,852,319, is entitled, "Method of Use of Transgenic Plant Expressed Antibodies." It was issued to The Scripps Research Institute, where the technology was developed, and exclusively licensed to Epicyte Pharmaceutical which was acquired by Biolex in 2004.

"The growing need for economical methods of producing monoclonal antibodies has led to the emergence of many alternative approaches for the expression of proteins. This patent adds to our already strong protection surrounding plant-based production of antibodies, and further supports our goal of becoming a leading protein therapeutics company," said Jan Turek, President and CEO of Biolex. "Using our LEX System(TM) we can efficiently produce large quantities of proteins in compliance with existing regulatory guidelines with much lower capital investment requirements than traditional approaches."

About Biolex: Biolex, Inc. is a private, venture capital-backed biopharmaceutical company. Biolex is developing recombinant human therapeutic proteins that, until now, have been impossible or very expensive to develop in existing expression systems. Biolex' proprietary LEX System has demonstrated speed, regulatory and economic benefits with hard-to-make proteins and monoclonal antibodies. Biolex has a pipeline of proprietary products in development and its lead candidate, BLX-883, is currently in a Phase 1 clinical trial. Biolex also is partnering with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies seeking the protein development and production benefits the LEX System offers. Biolex has entered into corporate partnerships with Centocor, Inc., Medarex, Inc., and other pharmaceutical/biotechnology companies. The Company's headquarters, research laboratories and clinical manufacturing facilities are based in Pittsboro, North Carolina. Visit the Company's web site at www.biolex.com .
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