BIO to Host Wall Street Briefing on Industrial Biotechnology

Washington, D.C. (February 3, 2004) –The Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) will host an invitation-only briefing for security analysts and investors on industrial biotechnology on Feb. 23. This briefing will cover the progress this new technology has made in transforming the chemical, textile, energy and consumer goods markets. The half-day "Third Wave 2004" briefing will take place from 1-6 p.m. at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City.

Analysts and investors interested in attending should contact Amy Sullivan at (781) 596-7557 or e-mail amy@bluerae.com for registration approval. Credentialed press should contact Kathy Stover of BIO at (202) 962-9232, or via e-mail at kstover@bio.org.

This special briefing will focus solely on industrial biotechnology highlighting its value, significant market and scientific potential in the chemical industry, as well as its novel applications.

"This special half-day briefing will provide new information about advances industrial biotech companies have made over the past year and how these advances will be translated from the laboratory to world market development," said Brent Erickson, BIO's vice president for industrial and environmental biotechnology.

The keynote address, "Surfing the Third Wave: Value Creation Opportunities in Industrial Biotechnology," by Jens Riese of McKinsey and Co., will outline industrial biotech's enormous market potential in the chemical field. Four moderator-lead panel sessions will follow, including:

• Biotech Routes for Production of Renewable Feedstocks and High-value Products;
• Can Genomics, Proteomics and Bioinformatics Transform the Chemical Industry?
• Industrial Biotechnology: The Key to New and More Sustainable Consumer Products; and
• Novel Applications of Industrial Biotechnology: Bio-nanotechnology, National Defense and Beyond

Confirmed panel participants include: Steen Riisgaard, president and CEO, Novozymes A/S; Alan Shaw, president and CEO, Codexis; Leendert Stall, CEO DSM Pharmaceuticals; William Baum, executive vice president, Diversa; Jerry Warner, president and CEO, Defense Life Sciences; James Barber, president and CEO, Metabolix; Mike Arbige, senior vice president of technology, Genencor International; Carolyn Fritz, global business director, Dow; William Frey, business director, Bio-based materials, and Jonathan Dordick, Howard P. Isermann Professor, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

"Industrial biotechnology is quickly moving into the mainstream by creating new value chains in the chemical and manufacturing sectors, and it is transforming industries that affect the daily lives of millions of people around the world," BIO's Erickson said. "Textiles, energy and chemicals production, and pharmaceuticals, are all becoming vastly more energy and resource-efficient as a direct result of this trend. The Department of Defense is also interested in how industrial biotech applications can be applied to create biological batteries, mobile biorefineries and enzymes for chemical warfare decontamination."

BIO represents more than 1,000 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations in all 50 U.S. states and 33 other nations. BIO members are involved in the research and development of health-care, agricultural, industrial and environmental biotechnology products. For more information on BIO, please visit www.bio.org.