Sacramento, California
October 1, 2002

Ventria Bioscience announces the launch of ExpressTec(TM), a proprietary technology that enables the high level expression of therapeutic proteins in rice, wheat and barley. Ventria's ExpressTec(TM)
is a breakthrough that delivers an economically advantaged production system using self-pollinating plants as the production host.

Ventria scientists published an example of the power of ExpressTec(TM) in the September issue of Molecular Breeding. The article describes how Ventria's R&D team utilized ExpressTec(TM) for the production of Lysozyme, a protein involved in the body's natural defense against bacterial and viral infection. The article also describes how they achieved protein expression levels of 6 grams of Lysozyme per kilogram of rice.

For a copy of the article, please go to the Molecular Breeding website at: http://www.kluweronline.com/issn/1380-3743/current (Please click previous issue button).

"ExpressTec(TM) is a major breakthrough for Plant-made Pharmaceuticals because the amount of target protein produced in the rice ("the expression level") is several fold higher than existing technologies. Also the protein is deposited within the rice seed, nowhere else in the plant, which allows for improved storage and processing," said Ning Huang, Ph.D. Ventria's Vice President of Research and Development. "Our ExpressTec(TM) technology continues to improve, since this article was written we have achieved expression levels of 8 to 10 grams of Lysozyme per kilogram of rice."

"Expression levels and scalable manufacturing are major hurdles for the advancement of the biopharmaceutical and proteomics industries. With ExpressTec(TM), we have achieved a significant milestone in the development of new technologies to overcome these hurdles," said Scott Deeter, Ventria's President and CEO.

Ventria Bioscience is a development-stage biotechnology company engaged in the production of recombinant proteins using its proprietary ExpressTec(TM) technology to commercialize products with applications in human and animal health. Some of the products currently under development by Ventria address a variety of human health issues, including Infectious Disease, Cystic Fibrosis, and Emphysema.