Cobra Announces Prize for Presentation on its Rapid Mammalian Protein Expression Technology, UCOE

19 February 2008, Keele, UK: Cobra Biomanufacturing Plc (AIM: CBF), the international manufacturer of biopharmaceuticals, today announces that a presentation on its UCOE (Ubiquitous Chromatin-Opening Element) protein expression technology was awarded the ‘Best Oral Presentation’ at the 18th ESACT-UK Scientific Meeting, which took place in Cambridge last month.

The joint first prize went to Alexandra Croxford, a postgraduate student from Professor Alan Dickson’s group in the Faculty of Life Sciences at the University of Manchester. Her presentation described the results of her work in optimising the UCOE technology in collaboration with Cobra Biomanufacturing. The title of the presentation was "Influence of Ubiquitous Chromatin-Opening Elements Towards Expression of Therapeutic Proteins in Recombinant CHO Cell Lines".

The UCOE technology consists of a DNA sequence called a Ubiquitous Chromatin-Opening Element. By keeping neighbouring DNA free of chromatin, this element can ensure that genes of interest cloned adjacent to the UCOE are transcribed at high levels when transfected into cells. Consequently, cell lines that produce high levels of protein are readily obtained in a shorter timeframe than conventional expression technologies.

Simon Saxby, Cobra Biomanufacturing’s Chief Operating Officer said: “UCOE technology enables Cobra to manufacture proteins for our clients in mammalian cells faster and at higher yields than using standard expression methods. The collaboration with the University of Manchester has advanced our understanding of these universal chromatin opening elements and will enable the technology to be further optimised for our customers’ benefit.”

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For further information, please contact:

Cobra Biomanufacturing Plc
Tel: +44 (0) 1782 714 181
Simon Saxby, Chief Operating Officer

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

College Hill Life Sciences
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7457 2020
Gemma Price/Adam Michael/Kathryn Robertson

Seymour Pierce (NOMAD & Broker)
Tel: +44 (0) 20 107 8000
Stuart Lane

Notes to Editors:

About Cobra Biomanufacturing Plc:

Cobra Biomanufacturing Plc is a leading international contract manufacturer of biopharmaceuticals to the lifescience industry. Founded in 1992, Cobra provides innovative manufacturing solutions to the biopharmaceutical industry covering DNA, virus, cellular therapeutics and recombinant protein products.

Cobra has developed a range of unique, patented technologies, which underpin a successful revenue generating contract manufacturing business.

Cobra floated on the Alternative Investment 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. Since floatation the Company has grown turnover from $6m to $20m providing expert manufacturing services across the world with over 80% of revenues currently originating from the US market.

www.cobrabio.com

About UCOEs:

UCOEs (Ubiquitous Chromatin-Opening Elements) are DNA sequences that can influence the structure of chromosomes and thus enhance the level of transcription from inserted genes. The sequences maintain the structure of neighbouring chromatin in an ‘open’ configuration, which is essential for gene transcription. By incorporating optimised UCOEs of 1.5 - 3 kb in size into mammalian expression vectors, Cobra has created an expression system to create transfected cell lines where genes of interest are transcribed at high levels and required proteins are stably expressed.

The use of UCOEs enables the identification of clones expressing high levels of proteins (1.5-2.0g/L in non-optimised conditions) more rapidly than other expression systems, by reducing the total number of clones that have to be screened. A further benefit of UCOEs is the ability to rapidly produce gram quantities of material from cells that can be used for research purposes or for shortening time scales associated with Downstream Processing optimisation.

About ESACT-UK:

ESACT-UK is a Society which promotes the communication of knowledge and experience between UK scientists and engineers whose work has a direct or indirect bearing on cell culture biotechnology and the products derived from it. A particular emphasis is to ensure both the inclusion, and the active participation, of less experienced scientists in industry or academic institutions.