ACE BIOSCIENCES APPOINTS PRESTIGIOUS VACCINE SCIENTIFIC ADVISORY BOARD

ACE BioSciences A/S, the infectious diseases company is pleased to announce that it has appointed a prestigious Vaccine Scientific Advisory Board comprising: Dr Jerry Sadoff, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation, US; Dr A Louis Bourgeois, Associate Research Professor, Center for Immunization Research at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, US; and Dr David Lewis, Professor of Clinical Vaccinology and Medicine, Department of Cellular Molecular Medicine (Centre for Infection), at St George's, University of London, UK.

Ms Ingelise Saunders, ACE BioSciences' CEO commented ‘I am delighted that ACE BioSciences has secured the support and advice of world leading experts in infectious disease. The Board's extensive clinical and scientific expertise will be invaluable to us as we begin our first clinical trials and take steps to expand our product portfolio in the coming year. We will also benefit from their extensive international network of academic and industry contacts which will be particularly helpful as we increase our efforts to secure partnerships, collaborations and licensing deals.'

Dr Sadoff has more than three decades experience of vaccine development. He joined Aeras in 2003, prior to which he was Executive Director of Clinical Development of Vaccines at Merck, where he spearheaded projects to develop and license eight vaccines. Earlier in his career he worked on a wide range of viral, bacterial and parasite vaccines at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, US. He is currently Chairman of the NIH's NIAID Malaria Vaccine Consultants Group and Chair of the NIH/NIAID Oversight Task Force. He also serves on the NIAID Vaccine Research Working Group.

During his fifteen year tenure at St George's, Dr Lewis has led a number of high profile vaccine projects including those to address the Human Papilloma Virus (Cervical Cancer vaccine under development by GSK Biologicals), Shigella dysentery, Tuberculosis, BCG and HIV. He has also worked on novel delivery technologies including nasal, oral and cervico-vaginal administration routes. He is Clinical Director (Specialist Medicine) and Honorary Consultant Physician at St George's and a member of the British Society for the Study of Infection and the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.

Dr Bourgeois has nearly 30 years international experience in infectious disease research. Over the last six years he has served as a Principal and Associate Investigator on Clinical Trials evaluating vaccine candidates for ETEC diarrhea, Shingella dysentery and Typhoid Fever. He has also led field teams evaluating the protective efficacy of an ETEC vaccine in travellers to Central America and Mexico and new antibiotics for the treatment of Traveller's diarrhoea among international visitors to this region. Prior to joining Johns Hopkins University, he was a member of the US Navy's Enteric Diseases Research Programme, where he worked on Campylobacter vaccine and mucosal adjuvant development.

ENDS

ACE BioSciences is an emerging pharmaceutical company focused on developing novel protein-based vaccines and antibodies to address infectious diseases. It has unique expertise in the extraction and analysis of the cell surface proteins used by pathogens (eg bacteria, viruses and fungi) to interact with and infect human host cells. ACE BioSciences aims to develop a portfolio of products independently and in collaboration with other companies. The company's lead project is the first commercially available vaccine to combat Campylobacter jejuni, a bacterium that is the main cause of travellers' diarrhoea, which will enter clinical trials in the 2nd quarter of 2006. The company is also working on a vaccine for Streptococcus pneumoniae, the bacterium responsible for Pneumococcal disease, which it aims to partner.

In November 2005, ACE BioSciences and the Dutch biotechnology company Crucell N.V. entered a research and licensing agreement to discover antibody therapies to combat serious hospital-acquired infections, including those caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria. In December last year, the company entered a collaborative agreement with Aeras whereby ACE BioSciences will support the characterization of second-generation BCG-based tuberculosis (TB) vaccines under development by Aeras. The annual global market for a Campylobacter vaccine is estimated to be worth $700 million and that for Streptococcus would be multibillion.

For more information contact:
Ingelise Saunders - ACE BioSciences mob + 45 20 20 36 87
Nicki Brimicombe - NB PR for ACE BioSciences + 44 (0) 1883 732353