Biotage today announced that the company will enter the peptide synthesis

business, through two new agreements with German company MultiSynTech GmbH. The

agreements concern both the distribution rights for MultiSynTech’s systems and

the establishment of a joint development project.

The agreements with MultiSynTech will grant Biotage distribution rights for all

current MultiSynTech peptide synthesis systems. Biotage and MultiSynTech have

also agreed on a joint development project to design and market a new

microwave-aided peptide synthesis system, which will increase yield and speed in

peptide synthesis.

Demand for synthetic peptides is currently growing rapidly. The peptide

synthesizer market is estimated at SEK 150m and is growing at double digit rate.

In the research phase, biochemists need increasingly longer, more complex

peptides to study protein interactions, produce peptide antibodies, and

understand complex disease states. As the number and complexity of peptides

increase, the biochemists need new tools that offer higher productivity and

increased performance.

The Biotage – MultiSynTech collaboration will create those new tools that

University and biopharmaceutical peptide research groups and contract peptide

labs need to meet the new challenges in peptide synthesis. Biotage will be

uniquely positioned to offer both parallel synthesis and microwave synthesis

capability to address the full range of needs.

“We look forward to working in close collaboration with Biotage. Biotage has a

proven sales and support team that dramatically expands our coverage outside

Central Europe, and really opens opportunities for our current products in USA,

UK, Nordic and Asian regions.” says Udo Treffer, CEO of MultiSynTech.

“MultiSynTech is the clear leader in robotic peptide synthesis. This joint

development project will combine the proven performance of the current

MultiSynTech robotic synthesizer with Biotage microwave technology in a unique

integrated system.” says Torben Jørgensen, CEO of Biotage.

About Biotage

Biotage is a global company active in life science research with strong

technologies, a broad range of operations and a long-term view of the market.

The company offers solutions, knowledge and experience in the area of medicinal

chemistry. In 2005 business and products from the company Argonaut were

acquired, further strengthening the product range in medicinal chemistry. The

customers include the worlds top 30 pharma companies, the worlds top 20 biotech

companies, and leading academic institutes. The company is headquartered in

Uppsala and has subsidiaries in the U.S., Japan, UK, Germany and several other

European countries. Biotage has 292 employees at the end of 2008 and had sales

of SEK 497,8m in 2008. Biotage is listed on the OMX Nordic stock exchange.

Website: www.biotage.com