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Chlorogen strengthens its intellectual property position with license to chloroplast patents from Rutgers University
St. Louis, Missouri
August 17, 2005

Chlorogen, Inc. has acquired an exclusive license to chloroplast transformation patents held by Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. These patents, developed at the Waksman Institute, give the company broad freedom to operate in the field of chloroplast transformation technology (CTT)(TM).

In 2002, Chlorogen acquired an exclusive license to the earliest patents related to CTT. The Rutgers patents complement and enhance foundation patents already acquired by Chlorogen and give Chlorogen exclusive access to the earliest and broadest patents in the field of CTT. The combined patents cover a wide range of plant applications - dicots, monocots, lower and higher forms of plants, green and non-green plant tissue.

"We are very pleased to have obtained this exclusive license," said Dr. David N. Duncan, President and CEO of Chlorogen. "These important patents complement and enhance the patent estate upon which our company was founded. We have a very strong intellectual property position."

The agreement also gives Chlorogen limited rights to some future discoveries from CTT research at Rutgers.

"This opportunity to commercialize promising technologies developed at Rutgers can result in products for the public good as well as a mutually beneficial relationship with Chlorogen," said Bill Adams, Director of Rutgers Office of Corporate Liaison and Technology Transfer.

CTT is unique in the arena of plant biotechnology in that new genetic material is introduced into the cell chloroplasts rather than the cell nucleus. This provides productivity and environmental advantages over nuclear transformation.

Productivity is greatly enhanced because plant cells contain only one nucleus but about 100 chloroplasts, which contain about 100 copies of the plant's total genetic structure. Therefore, CTT can produce about 10,000 copies of an introduced gene in a single cell as opposed to only one or two via nuclear expression.

CTT has an environmental advantage because chloroplasts are inherited maternally. This means that they are not functional in pollen and therefore are not transferred via pollen to conventional crops or other sexually compatible plants in the environment.

Chlorogen, based in St. Louis, MO, is committed to producing plant-made proteins for use in the treatment and prevention of human diseases. In addition to developing its own pharmaceutical pipeline, the company is pursuing collaborative arrangements for other applications, such as food and feed, biopolymers and defense.

Established in 1766, Rutgers is America's eighth oldest institution of higher learning and one of the nation's premier public research universities. Serving more than 50,000 students on campuses in Camden, Newark and New Brunswick/Piscataway, Rutgers offers more than 280 bachelor's, master's, doctoral and professional degree programs. The university is home to 29 degree-granting schools and colleges, and more than 150 specialized centers and institutes. With 320,000 living alumni, Rutgers graduates are major contributors to all sectors of contemporary life.

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