Origen Therapeutics Appoints Phil Leighton as Director of Research and Announces Departure of Robert Etches, VP of Research.

Emeryville, CA (June 23, 2008): Origen Therapeutics today announced a change in the research management of the company appointing Dr. Phil Leighton as Director of Research, following the departure of Robert Etches, Ph.D., D. Sc., Vice President of Research. This change marks the company’s transition from development of its proprietary avian transgenic technology to the application of that technology to product development in the pharmaceutical, food and agricultural arenas.

“We are most grateful for the many years that Rob has worked for Origen during which time the company successfully established avian transgenesis as a broadly applicable technology,” said Robert Kay, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Origen Therapeutics. “Phil Leighton is the scientist who designed our polyclonal antibody program and is the Principal Investigator on our Advanced Technology Program Grant. He naturally comes forward now to lead our product discovery and development efforts. We believe that applications of Origen’s avian transgenesis technology will in time prove to be important contributors to human health and nutrition.”

Dr. Etches has made significant contributions over the past 10 years to Origen’s success in developing a broadly applicable, robust technology for the production of transgenic chickens, using both embryonic stem cells and primordial germ cells leading to numerous scientific publications and patent applications. Under his leadership, transgenes designed to express therapeutic proteins in a tissue-specific manner have been tested and shown to function efficiently, and the Origen technology has been shown to allow for specific and site-directed modification of the chicken genome. The company now plans to move forward with applying this seminal technology to the development of immunotherapeutics, biopharmaceuticals and other product opportunities.

“We had the vision, tackled the challenge and made it happen,” Dr. Etches commented. He departs Origen to pursue other interests outside of avian transgenesis.

Dr. Leighton originally joined Origen Therapeutics as a Scientist in 2001 and has since held an increasingly responsible series of scientific positions at Origen. He received his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology at Princeton University followed by a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco. During his career he has made significant contributions to several areas of developmental biology and published over a dozen papers in leading journals. He is also an inventor on a number of patent applications.

About Origen Therapeutics

Origen Therapeutics, headquartered in Emeryville, CA, is a privately held biotechnology company developing product opportunities from their avian transgenic platform. The company’s mission is to become a leading developer and producer of complex recombinant protein therapeutics, including human polyclonal antibodies. Origen is establishing corporate alliances with biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies for the commercialization of its technology.

Contacts:

Robert M. Kay, Ph.D.
President and CEO
Origen Therapeutics
(650) 558-7726

Joan E. Kureczka
Kureczka/Martin Associates
(415) 821-2413
jkureczka@comcast.net