Variation Biotechnologies Inc. to Present at Windhover Information's "The Start-Up Forum 2005"

Variation Biotechnologies Inc. to Present at Windhover Information's "The Start-Up Forum 2005"

Business Wire - May 16, 2005

OTTAWA--Variation Biotechnologies Inc. (VBI) has announced that it will be presenting at 10:20am on May 20th at Windhover Information's "The Start-Up Forum 2005," taking place May 18-20, 2005 at the Cambridge Marriott in Boston, MA. Francisco Diaz-Mitoma, MD, PhD and CEO of Variation Biotechnologies, will present data validating the Company's innovative vaccine development platform. The conference features the attendance of pre-eminent investors in the life sciences and bio-pharmaceutical sector, and provides an ideal venue for the launch of VBI's next investment round.

The Company's CEO is looking forward to the opportunity to address industry leaders. "Variation Biotechnologies has achieved tremendous momentum and significant milestones over the past year. We are pleased to have been selected to present our Company and innovative vaccine products to the industry and are confident that their attributes will appeal to investors and potential strategic partners."

The Company's lead product has been successfully evaluated in macaques and is currently completing late-stage preclinical development. The multi-subtype, multi-variant HIV vaccine uses a bio-informatics approach to address the critical issue of the genetic variability of HIV. "The critical barrier to an HIV vaccine has been the ability to develop an immune response that can fight the genetically distinct swarm of HIV that infects a patient or develops shortly after infection. Variosite(TM) technology allows us to design vaccines that induce the full breadth and depth of the human immune system and holds tremendous promise as a therapeutic vaccine for HIV," states Dr. Diaz-Mitoma. Moreover, VBI's proprietary vaccine design can be synthesized with great cost-efficiency, a key value-driver for an HIV vaccine. VBI has completed pre-filing meetings with regulatory officials and is preparing for phase I clinical trials early in 2006.

The second product is a multi-strain influenza vaccine, including representation of pandemic strains. Initial product development has included a head-to-head comparison with a licensed influenza vaccine, and the results are very encouraging.

Variation Biotechnologies Inc. was founded in 2001 to commercialize pioneering research in the bio-informatic design of vaccines. Variosite(TM) technology addresses the issue of "antigenic variation" which allows viral pathogens to escape detection by the human immune system and can be applied to viruses such as HIV, Hepatitis C, Influenza, SARS, and Dengue. The Company's founders include top scientists from the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa, Canada, the University of California at Davis, and Harvard University. For more information about VBI please visit www.variationbiotech.com.

CONTACT: Variation Biotechnologies Inc.

Adam Buckley, 613-737-7600 x4151

SOURCE: Variation Biotechnologies Inc.

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