EPICYTE HIRES DEBRA ROBERTSON, Ph.D. TO DIRECT STRATEGY FOR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Epicyte Pharmaceutical, Inc. announced that Debra Robertson, Ph.D., has joined Epicyte as director of intellectual property. Dr. Robertson directs the development of the companys intellectual property portfolio as well as manages the intellectual property issues in support of business development efforts and strategic partnering worldwide.

Epicyte Pharmaceutical, Inc. announced that Debra Robertson, Ph.D., has joined Epicyte as director of intellectual property. Dr. Robertson directs the development of the companys intellectual property portfolio as well as manages the intellectual property issues in support of business development efforts and strategic partnering worldwide. Dr. Robertson reports to Andrew Hiatt, Ph.D., founder and executive vice president, research and development.

"Dr. Robertson fills a crucial role here at Epicyte, and we are very fortunate to have her join our team, " said Andrew Hiatt, Ph.D., Epicyte founder. "Her skill set is unique, which makes her highly sought after in the biotechnology community. First, she is very highly skilled in managing intellectual property issues and brings a wide spectrum of working experience in science and biotechnology. More importantly, she continuously proves her value by combining her creative skills as a scientist with her strategic view of the intellectual property and business landscapes."

Dr. Robertson joins Epicyte from Sequenom, Inc., where as director of intellectual property she was instrumental in the expansion of the companys intellectual property portfolio and the communication of critical intellectual property issues during the companys private financing and initial public offering. Before joining Sequenom in 1998, Dr. Robertson served as scientific advisor at the law firm Lyon and Lyon LLP and as a senior scientist at Isis Pharmaceuticals.

Dr. Robertson received her Ph.D. in molecular biology from University of California in Los Angeles and was a National Institute for Health post-doctoral fellow at The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, Calif. She has authored several peer-reviewed manuscripts and is a regular news contributor to the international journal Nature Biotechnology. Dr. Robertson is a 2002 nominee for the Individual in Technology" Pinnacle Award presented by Athena, a University of California sponsored organization that recognizes outstanding women in the San Diego technology and business communities.

Epicyte will surely benefit from Dr. Robertsons rich experiences from the earliest stages of company development all the way through IPO, said Dr. Hiatt, We are enthusiastic that Dr. Robertson will be a key contributor to Epicytes progress on this path."

Epicyte® Pharmaceutical, Inc., founded in 1996, is a San Diego based biopharmaceutical company with a novel research and development program focused on the development of human monoclonal antibody products as treatments for a wide range of infectious and inflammatory diseases. Epicyte's proprietary PlantibodyÔ technology allows the company to address the unmet medical need for large amounts of human monoclonal antibodies by producing them in corn and other field crops. Plant based production of pharmaceuticals allows the large scale and cost effective production of the therapeutic molecules. Epicyte owns exclusive rights to this Plantibodies technology and is using it to produce its own pipeline of human monoclonal antibodies. More information about Epicyte is available at www.epicyte.com.

The names Epicyte and Plantibodies are trademarks of Epicyte Pharmaceutical, Inc.