BioInvent reorganize

BioInvent reorganize Increased focus on development of proprietary drugs Lund, Sweden:The Swedish bio-technology company BioInvent International AB (SAX:BINV) intend to reorganize in order to further increase the focus on the development of proprietary antibody-based drugs. This focus demands a change in the composition of staff and lead to a reduced need for personnel in individual fields. In the slightly longer term, the company may need to strengthen the competence in areas such as e.g. pre- clinical and clinical development. The reorganization is further a consequence of the merger between the two operating subsidiaries and the parent company that was carried out late 2002. The new organization can be expected to have 105 employees compared to the current 130. This can be assumed to bring reductions in cost, with effect from the first quarter of 2004, of approximately MSEK 20 on a yearly basis. - Through this reorganization we strengthen BioInvent's ability to develop proprietary drug candidates. We run several promising drug development projects and have through our technology platform strong potential to initiate new projects. We want to strengthen our project portfolio by transferring more resources to selected projects. The sales of development services will continue, though with somewhat less resources tied in this part of our operations, explains Svein Mathisen, CEO of BioInvent. - We regret that the changes affect many of our employees but we are convinced that the focus on proprietary drugs will strengthen the company and our long-term development, says Svein Mathisen. The company has required negotiations, in accordance with the Swedish employment act, regarding the reorganization. After the negotiations are finalized, the final decisions regarding the staffing and organization issues will be made. -- THE END -- For more information BioInvent International AB Svein Mathisen President and CEO Tel: +46 46 286 85 67 Mobile: +46 708 97 82 13 E-mail: svein.mathisen@bioinvent.com Notes to Editors: BioInvent International AB, listed on the O-list of the Swedish Exchange, is a biotechnology company devoted to providing state-of-the- art antibody technology to the pharmaceutical and biotech industry. BioInvent run a number of proprietary drug projects within areas such as cancer, atherosclerosis and HIV and cooperate with a number of international pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. A cornerstone is its proprietary human antibody gene library, n- CoDeR(TM). This is a collection of more than twenty billion functional antibody genes that are ready to be screened against desired antigens. n- CoDeR(TM) has been used successfully for the isolation of antibody fragments with specificity for a number of antigens, including peptides, proteins and carbohydrates. BioInvent offers biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies access to n-CoDeR(TM) through collaborative research and development programs. BioInvent's capabilities in large-scale contract manufacturing of protein-based drugs through a state-of-the-art cGMP-certified facility further underpin its competitiveness in the antibody arena. BioInvent has been supplying monoclonal antibodies, fusion proteins and other recombinant proteins to the world's leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies for therapeutic use since 1988. These antibodies and proteins are used in all phases of clinical trials in both the US and across Europe. The cGMP-certified manufacturing facility is designed to meet FDA and EU regulations from early clinical development to commercial scale-up, with multi-kilogram annual capacity. BioInvent is headquartered in Lund, Sweden, employing a total of 130 people. For further information, see www.bioinvent.com ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by Waymaker http://www.waymaker.net The following files are available for download: http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2003/10/10/20031010BIT00330/wkr0001.doc http://www.waymaker.net/bitonline/2003/10/10/20031010BIT00330/wkr0002.pdf