- First technology transfer in collaboration with Kedrion BioPharmaceuticals
- Alliance to target market opportunity with C$50 million in annual sales
MARYLAND, UNITED STATES, MONTREAL, CANADA and TAIPEI, TAIWAN -- (MARKET WIRE) -- June 11, 2007 -- ProMetic BioTherapeutics, Inc., a subsidiary of ProMetic Life Sciences Inc. (TSX: PLI) ("ProMetic"), and Blue Blood Biotech Corporation ("Blue Blood") have formed a strategic alliance to develop drugs derived from human plasma utilizing ProMetic's proprietary manufacturing process.

The alliance between the two companies will initially target hyperimmune Cytomegalovirus (CMV), as well as two other high value therapeutics, with Taiwan and Southeast Asia as the primary markets. This represents a market opportunity exceeding C$50 million in annual sales. Although the financial details of the alliance were not disclosed, ProMetic and Blue Blood will share in the revenue derived from the sales of products.

Chuan-Chi Chiang, Ph.D., chairman of Blue Blood, stated, "ProMetic's proprietary manufacturing process will enable Blue Blood to produce very high value, in-demand therapeutics from a relatively small volume of plasma collected. Given that standard of plasma collection in Taiwan meets those of the U.S. and Europe, we will also consider utilizing Blue Blood's manufacturing plant to supply developed markets with selected therapeutics, such as the CMV hyperimmune."

ProMetic's proprietary manufacturing process enable the extraction of the most valuable therapeutic proteins from plasma. Each protein is removed from plasma by a specific ProMetic Mimetic Ligand(TM) adsorbent and subsequently purified in a side stream. The removal sequence has been optimized to give exceptionally high protein recoveries at unprecedented activity levels.

This proprietary manufacturing process, co-developed with the American Red Cross, can be applied to the recovery of certain proteins that have established therapeutic value but cannot be extracted effectively via current manufacturing practices, or that are not the focus of large plasma fractionators.

"We are very pleased to have partnered with Blue Blood, which has committed to developing specialty plasma-derived products and will be constructing a plasma fractionation facility in Taiwan," commented Pierre Laurin, president and chief executive officer of ProMetic. Laurin continued, "This is also the first opportunity for ProMetic and Kedrion to collaborate on a technology transfer project, as was our intention when we announced our strategic alliance in March of this year. Furthermore, ProMetic's strategic alliance with Kedrion targets some of the same drugs as those that will be manufactured at Blue Blood's facility. This will enable all the parties to leverage their respective assets and capitalize on synergies emanating from operations and technological expertise in order to maximize commercial success."

More about Blue Blood

Blue Blood Biotech Corporation is a leading biotechnology firm based in Taiwan. With R&D facilities in Taipei and Southern Taiwan Science Park, Blue Blood Biotech has many years of experiences in plasma screening and hyperimmune product development. Blue Blood Biotech works closely with Taiwan Blood Service Foundation and two leading medical universities, National Taiwan University and National Cheng Kung University, in Taiwan to develop a wide range of medical treatments, such as EV-71 and CMV hyperimmunes. In addition to high value plasma-derived products, Blue Blood Biotech also has two more products in development. One is a small molecule drug for treatment of acne, the other is a protein drug for wound healing. (www.blueblood.com.tw)

More about Kedrion S.p.A.
Kedrion S.p.A.of Lucca, Tuscany (www.kedrion.com) is a biotechnology company specializing in the development, production and distribution of plasma derivatives. In Italy, Kedrion is the main reference point for the National Health Service in regards to production of plasma-derived drugs and its skills are also put to use in strategic partnerships with overseas health services. Kedrion is present in over 30 countries, and is in 6th place in the world for volume of fractionated plasma and 7th for sales. The company's turnover has increased from 125 million euros in 2003 to over 155 million euros forecasted in 2006. The quality of its products, its continuous commitment to research and development, its consistent industrial capacity and its consolidated presence on the national and international market are the company's main areas of competitiveness. Kedrion's operations cover three different areas of business: production and distribution of plasma-derived products, producing plasma-derived drugs and virus deactivated plasma and it also distributes flu vaccines. Transfer of technological know how by means of international partnerships concerning two main activities; the construction of plasma-derived product production plants and the transfer of technological production processes).

More about ProMetic Life Sciences
ProMetic Life Sciences Inc. (www.prometic.com) is a biopharmaceutical company specialized in the research, development, manufacture and marketing of a variety of commercial applications derived from its proprietary Mimetic Ligand(TM) technology. This technology is used in large-scale purification of biologics and the elimination of pathogens. ProMetic is also active in therapeutic drug development with the mission to bring to market effective, innovative, lower cost, less toxic products for the treatment of hematology and cancer. Its drug discovery platform is focused on replacing complex, expensive proteins with synthetic "drug-like" protein mimetics. Headquartered in Montreal (Canada), ProMetic has R&D facilities in the UK, the USA and Canada, manufacturing facilities in the UK and business development activities in the US, Europe, Asia and in the Middle-East.