ArcticZymes has been awarded a research grant of MNOK 7.2

Biotec Pharmacon subsidiary, ArcticZymes AS, has today received a grant of MNOK
7.2 from the Research Council of Norway for a project with the title
"Development of new marine enzymes for research and diagnostics". The total
project budget is 14.4 MNOK over 3 years.

The project is a user-driven innovation project in the FUGE-program aiming to
establish a stronger product development platform for the development of new
enzymes for use in molecular biology applications.

ArcticZymes develops, produces and sells enzymes used in molecular DNA
technologies and diagnostics. The market is highly expansive, and the rapid and
diversifying technological development creates a strong market demand for new
and improved enzymes.

ArcticZymes is involved as commercial partner in several marine bioprospecting
activities that form a large source and pipeline for new commercial enzymes from
the Arctic marine environment, including being a commercial partner of the Sfi
MabCent consortium and the MARZymes projects at the University of Tromsø.

The strengthened pipeline of product candidates through strategic partnerships
with MabCent, MARZymes and others makes it necessary to increase product
development speed and capacity. The partnership with The University of Tromsø in
this project will strengthen the entire product development chain and increase
capacity from early stage to final product.

For further information, please contact
managing director Jan Buch Andersen
Tel: +47 467 46 171
e-mail:jba@arcticzymes.com

About bioprospecting in ArcticZymes:
The Arctic Ocean and Barents Sea is a habitat with extreme and variable
conditions that has led to the evolution of unique organisms adapted to these
extreme environmental conditions. The high activity of the cold-
adapted/psychrophilic enzymes is often coupled to low thermal stability. The
heat-lability provides a useful "off-switch" by which the enzyme can easily be
inactivated.
Molecular biology and health diagnostic applications are often multi-step
processes that require removal of reagents and enzymes during process flow.
Irreversible removal of an enzymatic activity by a simple heat inactivation
instead of physical extraction significantly reduce the hands-on time of the
reaction, eliminate sample loss and reduce the risk of contamination and/or
failure.

About Biotec Pharmacon ASA:
Biotec Pharmacon is a biopharmaceutical company that develops and manufactures
new immunomodulatory products and cold adapted marine enzymes. The wholly owned
Biotec BetaGlucans AS focuses on new and effective solutions within wound care,
cancer therapies and other immune related disease areas, while ArcticZymes AS
(96% owned) aspires to become a leading supplier of novel enzymes for
diagnostics and genetic research.


This information is subject of the disclosure requirements acc. to §5-12 vphl
(Norwegian Securities Trading Act)


[HUG#1506769]