Biotech News - BioInvent and Immusol Collaborate on Antibody Therapeutic Macular Degeneration

BioInvent and Immusol to Collaborate on Antibody Therapeutic for
Macular Degeneration

April 3, 2006--BioInvent International AB (SAX:BINV) and Immusol,
Inc. announced today a collaboration for the development of a fully
human n-CoDeR(R) antibody for the treatment of age-related macular
degeneration (AMD) and other ophthalmic disorders. Macular
degeneration, a poorly treated condition, is the most common cause
of vision loss in people over 60, affecting 20-25 million people
worldwide. It is characterised by abnormal and uncontrolled vessel
growth in the eye.

The collaboration will bring together a rich portfolio of expertise
in the area of therapeutic antibody research and development.
Immusol will contribute its expertise in ophthalmology and
intellectual property rights covering the use of antagonists against
a biological target identified to play an important role in the
underlying pathological process of AMD. BioInvent will contribute
its knowledge and experience in angiogenesis, immunology and
therapeutic antibody discovery and development. Under the terms of
the collaboration, the parties will share costs and revenues in
further development and commercialization.

Commenting on the collaboration, Svein Mathisen, President and CEO
of BioInvent, said, "We are very pleased to add this project to our
growing portfolio and to work with Immusol's expertise in ophthalmic
disorders. We believe that this project if successfully developed
could potentially offer significant clinical benefit to a patient
population poorly treated today."

Dr. Flossie Wong-Staal, Chief Scientific Officer and Executive Vice
President of Research and Development of Immusol, said, "We are
happy to work with BioInvent to leverage BioInvent's antibody
expertise in an important disease area. By developing antibodies
against a non-VEGF target with proven preclinical efficacy, we hope
to tackle wet AMD from a different angle."

Legal disclaimer

This press release contains statements about the future, consisting
of subjective assumptions and forecasts for future scenarios.
Predictions for the future only apply as of the date they are made
and are, by their very nature, in the same way as research and
development work in the biotech segment, associated with risk and
uncertainty. With this in mind, the actual outcome may deviate
significantly from the scenarios described in this press release.

Notes to editors:

BioInvent International AB, listed on the O list of the Stockholm
Stock Exchange (SAX:BINV), develops therapeutic antibodies against
diseases where there is a significant unmet medical need. Antibodies
are a strongly growing segment of the pharmaceutical market.

BioInvent focuses on discovery and development of therapeutic
antibodies, and documents their effect in pre-clinical and early
clinical trials. Clinical development, marketing and distribution
are conducted in cooperation with established pharmaceutical
companies. Today BioInvent conducts innovative drug projects
involving conditions such as HIV infection, thrombosis, cancer and
atherosclerosis.

These projects are based on a competitive technology platform that
covers the entire chain from the n-CoDeR(R) antibody library for
fast and efficient selection of human antibodies, to production in a
facility fully approved for manufacturing biological drugs. The
scope and strength of this platform is also utilised by partners in
the development of new drugs. These partners include ALK-Abello,
Antisoma, UCB, GlaxoSmithKline, Igeneon, ImmunoGen, OrbusNeich,
Syngenta and XOMA.

The Company, which currently has 96 employees, is located at Ideon
in Lund.

Immusol, Inc. is a privately-held San Diego-based biopharmaceutical
company engaged in the discovery and development of novel therapies
to treat human diseases. Immusol uses an integrated approach,
starting with a proprietary discovery technology, to identify
therapeutic molecules involved in the areas of cancer, viral
infection, and ophthalmology. Based on these discoveries, Immusol
develops small molecule and protein-based therapies alone or in
collaboration with drug development partners. Immusol's lead drug
candidate, ChelASE, is being studied in phase II clinical trials for
the treatment of keloids and hypertrophic scars. Other drug
candidates are in various stages of pre-clinical and clinical
development.

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