Keele, UK, 19^th June 2006 - Cobra Biomanufacturing plc (AIM: CBF), the international manufacturer of biopharmaceuticals, today announces the award of two European Patents further strengthening Cobra’s patent portfolio in the area of plasmid DNA manufacture. One patent (EP 1080179) covers Cobra’s RiboCLEAR system of novel cell lines engineered specifically for the synthesis of plasmid DNA at lower cost and higher quality and the other (EP 880585) a method for purifying plasmid DNA at scale. 

The market for DNA medicines and vaccines is set to grow to in excess of $4 billion within 10 years. These technologies address issues of scalability required for commercialisation and the rigorous quality standards required by the regulatory authorities.  

Cobra’s leading position in plasmid DNA and the manufacture of other high value, high potency biopharmaceutical products is maintained by continued innovation and investment in novel manufacturing technologies. 

David Thatcher, Chief Executive of Cobra, said:

“Cobra provides DNA manufacturing services which are second to none, our ability to offer this service is dependent on our commitment to innovation and the development of technology led manufacturing solutions.  Along with our ORT and ORT-VAC technologies, the grant of these patents in Europe is another important step forward in consolidating Cobra’s position as the leading manufacturer of plasmid DNA medicines and vaccines." 

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For further information please contact:

Cobra Biomanufacturing Plc       

David Thatcher, Chief Executive Officer, Tel: 44 (0) 1782 714 181           

Northbank Communications       

Marc Egelhofer, Tel: 44 (0) 1260 296 5000           

Buchanan Communications       

Tim Anderson/ Rebecca Dietrich, Tel: 44 (0) 207 466 5000           

Notes to Editors

Cobra Biomanufacturing Plc is a leading international manufacturer of biopharmaceuticals to the lifescience industry. Founded in 1992, Cobra provides innovative manufacturing solutions to the biopharmaceutical industry covering recombinant protein, , virus, cellular therapeutics and DNA. 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 Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange in June 2002 raising £7 million and raised a further £5.25 million in May 2003 in order to further expand capacity in Oxford UK. 

Plasmid DNA Products are products where the active ingredient is a molecule of DNA produced in and isolated from specially genetically engineered bacteria. The DNA contains genetic material coded to give a beneficial affect when administered and absorbed by the body. These products are usually either gene therapies for genetic diseases or in cancer treatment or are used as vaccines. 

RiboCLEAR Technology RiboCLEAR has a distinctive advantage in that  processing is simplified and avoids the alternative, use of the very expensive raw material, ribonuclease (which degrades RNA). As ribonuclease is derived from cattle, pharmaceutical products produced using this additive carry a risk of contamination with BSE and such manufacturing processes are not acceptable in today’s regulatory climate. RiboCLEAR strains avoid the use of such enzymes and therefore produce safer products of higher quality and at lower cost. 

ORT^® Technology is a way of creating totally stable genetically engineered strains of micro-organisms without the use of antibiotics or antibiotic genes. Other technologies rely on either integrating the synthetic gene(s) into the bacterial chromosome or using antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes to amplify replicating mini-chromosomes (called plasmids) containing the new genes. In the vaccine field it has been known for 10 years that the former approach leads to poor strain productivity and the latter to strain instability. Use of antibiotics also creates the risk of passing on the antibiotic resistance genes to pathogens in the environment. Such events have occurred naturally to create MRSA super bug strains so ORT^® strains are inherently safer for patients. ORT^® technology avoids these problems. 

ORT-VAC Technology harnesses the advantages of conventional genetic engineering with the safer ORT^® strain stabilisation technology. ORT-VAC allows rapid and simple construction of bacterial vaccine strains, capable of expressing massive quantities of synthetic antigenic proteins that can lead to protection against disease without the fear of creating antibiotic resistant strains which might be difficult to manage clinically. ORT-VAC technology can potentially be used to protect both against common infectious diseases such as meningitis, new diseases such as SARS, old diseases posing a new threat such as those which could be used by terrorists and also cancer. 

Statements contained within this press release may contain forward-looking comments which involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to vary from those contained in the forward-looking statements.  In some cases, you can identify such forward-looking statements by terminology such as ‘may’, ‘will’, ‘could’, ‘forecasts’, ‘expects’, ‘plans’, ‘anticipates’, ‘believes’, ‘estimates’, ‘predicts’, ‘potential’, or ‘continue’.  Predictions and forward-looking references in this press release are subject to the satisfactory progress of research, which is, by nature, unpredictable. Forward projections reflect management’s best estimates based on information available at the time of issue.