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Yahoo - Medgenics, Inc. Completes $7 Million Round of Financing Led by Alta Partners and Koor Corporate Venture Capital

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Wednesday June 20, 8:24 am Eastern Time Related Quotes Press Release ^DJI 10647.33 +50.66 ^IXIC 2031.24 +38.58 ^SPC 1223.14 +10.56 173.48 +5.75 ^IIX Medgenics, Inc. Completes $7 Million 706.90 +6.32 ^PSE Round of Financing Led by Alta delayed 20 mins - disclaimer Partners and Koor Corporate

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Additional Investors in the Round Include Alta Berkeley Venture Partners of UK

MISGAV, Israel--(BW HealthWire)--June 20, 2001-- Medgenics, Inc., an early stage US/Israel biotechnology company, announced today that it has completed its Series A funding round, raising $7 million from three leading venture funds: Alta Partners (US), Koor Corporate Venture Capital (Israel) and Alta Berkeley Venture Partners (UK).

Medgenics is developing a new, cost effective, long term and patient friendly way to treat a wide variety of diseases, using genetically engineered tissue to produce therapeutic proteins in the body. Through its wholly owned Israeli subsidiary, Biogenics, Ltd., Medgenics owns the exclusive license to a recently patented breakthrough for the long term delivery of therapeutic proteins, called the Biopump(tm). Based upon tissue and genetic engineering, the Biopump(tm) offers a unique platform technology using a patient's own skin, that enables the safe, long term production and delivery within the body of virtually any therapeutic protein for a wide range of applications in medicine. Without most of the drawbacks of gene therapy, the Biopump(tm) has the potential to replace

http://www.medgenics.com/pr/yahoo.htm (1 of 3) [10/20/2002 9:20:51 AM] Yahoo - Medgenics, Inc. Completes $7 Million Round of Financing Led by Alta Partners and Koor Corporate Venture Capital the current protein delivery model that consists of multiple protein injections that are highly expensive, uncomfortable and often produce complications.

Medgenics' lead investor in the Series A funding is Alta Partners of San Francisco, led by Senior Partner, Jean Deleage. A founder of Alta Partners, Jean Deleage has been a pioneer in the venture capital industry and was a very early investor in Genentech Inc., Chiron Corp. and Amgen, Inc. Mr. Deleage stated, ``we were fascinated to discover, within a pioneer's environment in northern Galilee, one of the most fascinating and state-of- the-art drug delivery projects of today's biopharmaceutical world, and to meet its very experienced leaders, Dr. Pearlman and Dr. Garfinkel. Needless to say that Alta made a significant investment and decided to commit the necessary time to contribute to Medgenics' success.''

G. Kirk Raab has also joined the Medgenics team as its Chairman of the Board. Mr. Raab was the former CEO of Genentech, Inc. and the past President of Abbott Pharmaceuticals, and he is the current Chairman of Oxford Glycosciences PLC and Connetics Corp. Professor Eugene Bauer, who is Stanford University's Vice President of Medical Affairs and the former Dean of Stanford's School of Medicine, also serves on the Board of Directors and is the Chairman of Medgenics' Scientific Advisory Board, which includes Dr. Alfred Alberts, former Vice President of Research & Development at Merck & Co.

Einat Wilf, General Partner with Koor Corporate Venture Capital commented, ``We are very pleased to announce our investment in Medgenics; it is a testimony to our continued commitment to investing in life sciences companies with breakthrough technology and experienced management teams. Medgenics' CEO, Andrew Pearlman, is one of Israel's most experienced and successful inventors, developers and company founders in biomedical technology and instrumentation. His founding partner and Chief Scientist, Leonard Garfinkel, is one of Israel's most experienced scientists with over 25 years experience in molecular biology.''

David Needham, PhD, a Partner at Alta Berkeley Venture Partners concurred, ``Medgenics promises an elegant solution for the delivery of molecular therapies. We are very pleased to be making our first investment in Israeli technology with such exciting prospects and with such a pre-eminent group of biotech investors and entrepreneurs.''

With the Series A funding round successfully completed, Medgenics, Inc. is well positioned to develop its promising technology.

Andrew Pearlman, CEO and Founder enthusiastically affirmed, ``This investment is a tribute to Medgenics' team and it's breakthrough technology for molecular therapy, and a major milestone for an early stage Israeli

http://www.medgenics.com/pr/yahoo.htm (2 of 3) [10/20/2002 9:20:51 AM] Yahoo - Medgenics, Inc. Completes $7 Million Round of Financing Led by Alta Partners and Koor Corporate Venture Capital biotechnology company. We are confident that these funds will enable the company to reach compelling in- vivo proof of principle and to make major steps towards early clinical trials. Furthermore, we hope to show that the Biopump(TM)'s unique ability to quickly produce and deliver therapeutic proteins can also be used to significantly reduce the delay between the discovery of a promising new gene from the human genome and its practical clinical use to help patients.''

Contact:

Medgenics, Inc. Dr. Andrew L. Pearlman, (972)-4-999-0550 [email protected]

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