Cobra joins international consortium to develop oral vaccines

Keele, UK, 7 March 2007 – UK-based Cobra Biomanufacturing Plc (AIM: CBF) announces its involvement in a consortium formed to develop a new vaccine delivery system based on live bacterial spores. This is funded from a European Union Sixth Framework grant, coordinated by the Royal Holloway – University of London, and includes international experts in immunology and vaccine development.

Spores of the harmless gut bacterium Bacillus subtilis are already taken orally as a probiotic to aid digestive health. The research programme will involve genetically engineered spores to express vaccine determinants on their coat. Such spores are able to survive ingestion, and can therefore deliver the vaccine to the immune system of the gut and induce immunity. Spores are very stable and do not require cold storage, and the oral delivery will avoid the problems associated with needles, making this technology particularly valuable in developing countries.

The initial disease targets will be malaria and tuberculosis, which kill millions of people annually, but the spore-based approach represents a platform technology to deliver vaccines against a wide range of diseases.

David Thatcher, Chief Executive of Cobra Biomanufacturing, commented: “This consortium brings together creative science from around the world including, UK, Germany, Italy, Austria and Vietnam with the aim of applying modern genetic techniques to develop cheap effective oral vaccines. Cobra is delighted to be collaborating on this innovative project which along with Cobra’s proprietary ORT-VAC technology reinforces Cobra’s position at the forefront of oral vaccine research.”

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For further information, please contact:

Cobra Biomanufacturing Plc
Tel: +44 (0) 1782 714 181
David Thatcher, Chief Executive

Buchanan Communications
Tel: +44 (0) 207 466 5000
Tim Anderson/Mark Court/Rebecca Skye Dietrich

Northbank Communications
Tel: +44 (0) 207 268 3240
Gemma Price/Kathryn Robertson
+44 (0) 1260 296 500

Notes to Editors:

About Cobra Biomanufacturing Plc

Cobra Biomanufacturing Plc is a leading international manufacturer of biopharmaceuticals to the life science industry. Founded in 1992, Cobra provides innovative manufacturing solutions to the biopharmaceutical industry covering DNA, virus, cellular therapeutics and recombinant protein products. Cobra was the first company to develop GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) standard DNA manufacture in Europe, with specific expertise in DNA medicines. A range of unique, patented technologies, underpins this revenue generating business.

Cobra floated on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange in June 2002 raising £7 million and raised a further £5.2 million in May 2003 in order to further expand capacity in Oxford UK. For further information, please go to www.cobrabio.com .

About ORT-VAC

ORT-VAC is a system for oral delivery of a vaccine that exploits the use of live bacteria that have been attenuated so they do not cause disease. The ORT-VAC strains are uniquely able to stably maintain hundreds of copies of circular DNA molecules called plasmids, which contain gene coding for the active principle of vaccines called antigens. The efficacy of DNA vaccines depend on getting as much of the antigen gene as possible to appropriate cells of the immune system in order to provoke an immune response – a task that ORT-VAC strains are ideally suited to perform. There is a significant advantage in replacing needles with an oral vaccine pill for improved safety and ease of delivery, particularly in developing countries where vaccination programmes are difficult to coordinate. For more information see http://www.cobrabio.com/technologies/ORT_VAC.htm