PowderMed appoints Bill Henry as Global VP of Manufacturing

Oxford, 8^th December 2005…PowderMed, an immunotherapeutics company focused on the development and manufacture of DNA-based vaccines for viral diseases and cancer, has announced the appointment of Dr Bill Henry as Global VP of Manufacturing. Dr Henry joins PowderMed from UCB Pharma/Celltech, where he was responsible for worldwide supply of licensed products and development of capacity and systems.

In his role at PowderMed Bill will be a member of the executive management team, with responsibilities including defining a global manufacturing strategy, negotiating funding solutions in relations to manufacturing and developing a cohesive outsourcing strategy.

Prior to joining PowderMed Dr Henry was the Global Technical and Supply Operations Director at Celltech. He has a PhD in Organic Chemistry, University of Edinburgh, and a double first class humours in Chemistry and Biology from the University of Abertay.

PowderMed has four DNA vaccines in clinical development and two programmes in pre clinical. The Company is at the forefront of developing DNA vaccines against annual and avian flu: the pandemic flu threat has heightened the awareness of the shortage of global manufacturing capacity for flu vaccines and Dr Henry will be instrumental in developing PowderMed’s manufacturing capacity in this area, in line with Government commitments.

Commenting on the appointment, Brenda Reynolds, PowderMed’s COO, said, “We are delighted to welcome Bill to our team. He brings with him a wealth of manufacturing knowledge and experience, critical to our progress as we expand our manufacturing capabilities in line with our pipeline developments.”

“PowderMed is at an exciting stage in its development. Its PMED^TM needle free delivery device is fully developed and its products are progressing through the clinic. I welcome the challenge of establishing the Company’s manufacturing partners in Europe and the US” said Dr Henry.

– Ends –

Notes to Editor

About PowderMed Ltd – www.powdermed.com

PowderMed is a private immunotherapeutic company based in Oxford, UK. The Company is focused on the clinical development and manufacture of therapeutic and prophylactic DNA-based vaccines for viral diseases and cancer. The company has 4 clinical and 3 pre-clinical stage projects. The lead clinical program has shown positive Phase I results in the treatment and prevention of human influenza. This technology is uniquely and easily adaptable to treat avian flu and to address the pandemic threat. PowderMed also has a product for the treatment of genital herpes in Phase I trials, and two partnered Phase I programs in Cancer (Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research) and HIV/AIDS (Glaxo SmithKline).

PowderMed vaccines are delivered using PMED^TM(Particle Mediated Epidermal Delivery), a needle-free, painless delivery system that requires minimal medical training, allows self-administration and requires no refrigeration for stockpiling. Specifically, PowderMed’s technology delivers DNA to the epidermal layer of the skin where it is presented to the cells of the immune network, thereby creating immunity and thus facilitating both treatment and prevention of disease.