Atlanta, GA – Southeast BIO (SEBIO) today announced the keynote speakers and featured panelists for the Ninth Annual Southeastern BIO Investor Forum. The Forum, scheduled for November 7-8, 2007 at the Pinehurst Resort in Pinehurst, NC, will feature remarks from more than 14 industry leaders.

The conference’s opening keynote panel session, “What Emerging Companies Want to Know,” will feature business development leaders from the big pharma, big biotech and medical device industries, including:

• Rick Anderson, Company Group Chairman, Johnson & Johnson and Worldwide Franchise Chairman, Cordis Corporation
• Leslie Boyd, Vice President of Scientific Licensing, GlaxoSmithKline
• Edward T. Mathers, Executive Vice President, Corporate Development and Venture, MedImmune
• Kenneth Lee, General Partner, Hatteras Venture Partners (Moderator).

The first day of the conference will also include a special patent law-focused panel to address “The Impact of the Recent Patent Rule Changes on Emerging Companies and Technology Transfer”, featuring:

• Margaret Bolce Brivanlou, Partner, King and Spalding LLP
• Jamie Greene, Partner, Kilpatrick Stockton LLP
• Todd Sherer, Associate VP Research & Director Office of Technology Transfer, Emory University
• Doug Gooding, Chief Executive Officer, Regado Biosciences, Inc.
• Allen Baum, Partner, Hutchison Law Group PLLC and Immediate Past President, Licensing Executives Society (USA & Canada) (Moderator).

On the second (and final) day of the conference, two concurrent breakfast sessions will feature Tom Keelin, Managing Partner of Keelin Reeds Partners, who will discuss “Managing to Get More for Your Assets”, and a panel session, “Models for Medical Device Commercialization”, featuring Nicholas Chronos, Chief Scientific and Medical Officer, Saint Joseph’s Research Institute; Medical Device Executive Greg Davis; and Edward Kerslake, VP, Program Management and Business Operations, Corporate Research and Advanced Technology Development, Boston Scientific.

Matthew Emmens will serve as a conference keynote speaker, discussing “Global Biopharmaceutical Companies: The Challenges Ahead”. Emmens is the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Management Committee at Shire Pharmaceuticals Group plc.

“We are extremely fortunate to have such experienced executives share their knowledge with us,” said SEBIO Conference Co-Chair Fred Hutchison. “This year’s SEBIO Investor Forum presents a unique opportunity to hear first-hand from true leaders in the life sciences field and gain valuable insight into important industry trends and issues.”

The SEBIO Investor Forum, the Southeast region’s premier life sciences venture capital conference, recently announced the 24 companies selected to present during the two-day event. The annual conference, designed to stimulate venture investment in the region, offers an early-stage event focused on best practices for newly emerging companies and a presenting company event which showcases a second group of young companies that have already completed one round of institutional financing. In addition, the Forum will include the announcement of the winner of SEBIO’s First Annual BIO/Plan Competition. The conference will explore research, market and financing trends with nationally recognized leaders from the investment and biosciences industries. Participants will include biotechnology executives, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, investment bankers and other industry professionals.

The SEBIO Investor Forum was first held in 1999; SEBIO presenters have raised more than $2 billion in private and public funding since the inaugural conference.

To learn more about the SEBIO Investor Forum and to register, please visit
www.sebio.org/investorforum/2007.

About Southeast BIO
Southeast BIO (SEBIO) is a regional nonprofit organization that fosters the growth of the life sciences industry in the Southeastern U.S. through efforts that promote entrepreneurship and bring together companies, investors, universities and support organizations active in the development of the industry. Today, the Southeast is recognized as one of the fastest growing life sciences regions in the U.S. and home to more than 220 life sciences companies. A public/private partnership formed in 1999, SEBIO is committed to conducting activities that create regional leverage and facilitate the common interests and goals of constituents in the life sciences industry. The geographic footprint of SEBIO presently includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. For more information on SEBIO, go to www.sebio.org.