EMO Biomedicine of Taipei announces intent to form cell therapy joint venture with Chromos Molecular Systems of Canada to treat chronic Hepatitis B
EMO Biomedicine of Taipei announces intent to form cell therapy joint venture with Chromos Molecular Systems of Canada to treat chronic Hepatitis B


(Press release, Biotechnology & Pharmaceutical Industries Program Office (BPIPO) and EMO Biomedicine Corporation)

23 December, 2005
With the strong guidance and assistance of the BPIPO (Biotechnology & Pharmaceutical Industries Program Office, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Taiwan), and lead-in from MDS Capital of Canada, Danshuei Jen, Taipei, Taiwan-based EMO Biomedicine Corporation announced today that a Letter of Understanding to form a joint venture in Taiwan had been signed with Chromos Molecular Systems, Inc, a cell-engineering and development company based in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada.

"We have an exciting opportunity to efficiently launch a clinical trial with an aim to cure chronic hepatitis B," said Shing-Mou Lee, President of EMO Biomedicine. "This chronic disease is endemic throughout Asia, and current treatments do not eliminate the progressive liver damage that can lead to hepatocellular carcinoma, the number one cause of death in men over 40 in Taiwan."

The Chromos REM technology is a proprietary method for the isolation and expansion of antigen-specific T-cells in order to enhance the body's natural ability to fight disease. The REM method selects the rare T cells that are capable of eliminating disease and expands these cells to clinically relevant numbers that allow the body to fight the disease effectively.

"We are extremely pleased to announce this agreement with EMO," said Alistair Duncan, President and CEO of Chromos. "The chronic hepatitis B product and the REM program are poised for immediate technology transfer and clinical testing can begin in the near term to address this long-term healthcare problem in the nation of Taiwan as well as the rest of Asia."

Under terms of a definitive agreement outlined in the letter of understanding, Chromos would provide the joint venture an exclusive license to use REM technology as a platform to develop and commercialize cell therapies for treatment of infectious disease and cancer in Taiwan and an option to expand its license to other parts of Asia. The joint venture will focus initially on obtaining product efficacy data by performing clinical trials to treat chronic Hepatitis B. Chromos will provide the existing clinical design and protocol, critical reagents, documentation, and on-site technology transfer for the manufacture of anti-Hepatitis B cell therapy product in Taiwan. EMO will provide the GTP manufacturing facility, personnel, clinical, quality, and regulatory oversight, and local and regional relationships and partnerships to manage the joint venture operations. Completing the transaction depends on securing adequate financing for the joint venture and signing definitive agreements.

"We look forward to working with our healthcare, university, government, and financial communities in Taiwan and other nations in Asia," said Lee. "Together, we can establish an innovative and exciting new company that seeks to address a substantial unmet medical need for patients in Asia who are suffering from this debilitating and eventually deadly disease"

About chronic Hepatitis B
HBV is a virus that infects liver cells and results in significant morbidity and mortality. The Hepatitis Foundation International estimates that more than 2 billion people worldwide have been exposed HBV and, of those, over 350.0 million people are chronically infected. While many HBV carriers show no outward signs of the disease, symptoms can include jaundice, fatigue, abdominal pain, loss of appetite, intermittent nausea and vomiting. In addition, approximately 25.0% to 30.0% of patients experience symptomatic disease such as cirrhosis (scarring of the liver), liver cancer and liver failure. The HBV vaccine is effective and generates more than US$1Billion in annual sales, however, current treatments and therapies for those already infected do not cure chronic HBV.

About EMO
EMO Biomedicine Corporation was founded in 2004 by Shing-Mou Lee, a cell therapy entrepreneur and medical technologist with former roles as VP of research at Alarvita BioLife and many years of senior research at the Development Center for Biotechnology in Taipei. EMO's new class 10,000 GTP pilot manufacturing facility is designed to manufacture product for Phase I and II clinical trials. EMO also provides cell-based assay services to quality healthcare, pharmaceutical, and biotechnology clients in Taiwan, Japan, and China.

About Chromos
Chromos employs proprietary technology to develop, manufacture and commercialize innovative biological therapies for debilitating diseases. Chromos has exclusive worldwide rights to two platform technologies, the ACE System (Artificial Chromosome Expression System) and REM (Rapid Expansion Method) technology. In the near term, Chromos will focus on continued commercialization of the ACE System for engineering cell lines for biopharmaceutical manufacture. To date Chromos has entered into corporate partnerships with partners including Pfizer Inc., Centocor, Inc., BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) and Cambridge Antibody Technology. In addition, the Company has strategic alliances with AppTec Laboratory Services, Inc., a leading biopharmaceutical contract manufacturer and with SAFC Biosciences, a member of the Sigma-Aldrich Group providing cell culture media development services to biopharmaceutical customers.

Certain of the statements contained in this press release are forward-looking statements which involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

For further information:
Shing-Mou Lee,
President, EMO Biomedicine Corp.
Tel: 886 2 28096390
Email: smlee@emobio.com
Website: www.emobio.com

Joseph Zendegui, Ph.D.
Vice President, Corporate Development
Chromos Molecular Systems, Inc.
Tel: 604-415-7128
Email: jzendegui@chromos.com
Website: www.chromos.com


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