Phyton Biotech Adds Three to Scientific Team,
Will Move Headquarters to Princeton in Fall

        (Fort Worth, TX, USA) --- Magnus Precht, President of Phyton Biotech, Inc., a DFB Pharmaceuticals affiliate, has announced that Phyton Biotech’s headquarters will move to Princeton, New Jersey, in fall 2005 and that the company has significantly expanded its research and development leadership team.

         “Over 62,000 people are engaged in the life sciences sector in New Jersey,” said Mr. Precht. “Our move to Princeton will place us at the epicenter of our industry as we continue to advance our position in biotechnology.”

         Mr. Precht explained that the move and expansion of personnel reflect the company’s plans to expand its activities beyond the current primary focus---the production of paclitaxel, the active ingredient in TAXOL^®*, one of the leading drugs for the treatment of cancer. “The addition of these scientists to the Phyton R&D team will be key to Phyton’s extension of its technology to the production of transgenic proteins while strengthening our current small molecule production capabilities,” said Charles Swindell, PhD, Vice President of Research and Development.

         Scientists joining Phyton include:

         • Michael Horn, PhD, Director of Cell and Molecular Biology

         • Sarad Parekh, PhD, Director of Cell Culture Process Development

         • Guillermo Tous, PhD, Director of Chemistry.

         Dr. Horn will head the strain development, cryopreservation, and plant cell and molecular biology departments. An undergraduate at the University of Missouri, he completed his PhD in biology at the University of Illinois. Dr. Horn carried out postdoctoral research at Ciba-Geigy Biotechnology in RTP NC where he was among the first to genetically engineer a member of the Gramineae. Noted for his impressive record of productive research and development in the plant biotechnology field, he has focused on the development of new plant cell culture technology, transgenic protein production in plant expression systems, and the genetic engineering of important crop plants. Dr. Horn developed the world’s first useful photosynthetic plant cell culture system while at the University of Illinois and has been instrumental in the launch of three commercial products: high oleic acid peanuts, and plant-expressed trypsin (TrypZean^®) and aprotinin (AproliZean^®). He is a member of the board of directors of the Society for In Vitro Biology and is an Associate Editor for two scientific journals. Michael was formerly with the Applied Biotechnology Institute and Prodigene where he was Director of Cell Biology.

         Sarad Parekh, PhD, will lead Phyton’s process development and pilot plant departments. He has expertise in the use of plant, mammalian, and microbial cell culture technologies for the production of biopharmaceuticals and significant experience with GMP fermentation processes for the production of both small molecule metabolites as well as proteins. Dr. Parekh received his education, culminating in a PhD in microbiology, at the University of Bombay. Following several years at the University of Illinois, he was employed at Merck & Co., where he supervised an interdisciplinary team responsible for the development of early stage technology and its transfer to commercial manufacture. Most recently with Dow Agrosciences as Global Technology Leader, Dr. Parekh led the effort to employ plant cell culture technology for the production of transgenic proteins. He is on the editorial boards of Process Biochemistry International and the Journal of Medical Science and has edited three books on the industrial applications of cell-culture based processes.

         Dr. Tous will lead Phyton’s analytical chemistry, chemical development, and media formulation departments. He brings special expertise in the analytical biochemistry of proteins---especially glycosylation---and has significant experience with the analytical chemistry of small molecules, small molecule synthetic and metabolite downstream process development, and protein chemical and downstream process development. Dr. Tous received his undergraduate and early graduate training in biology and biochemistry at the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid and completed a PhD in organic chemistry with a focus on proteins at Rutgers. Most recently Director in the research and development organization of MedImmune, he formerly worked at Bristol-Myers Squibb in analytical chemistry and chemical development where he had key responsibility in several successful product registration programs.

         Phyton Biotech, Inc. is a subsidiary of DFB Pharmaceuticals Inc. Phyton’s proprietary plant cell culture technology platform is used to develop and manufacture products with applications in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries. Its German subsidiary, Phyton GmbH, operates the world’s largest commercial cGMP manufacturing facility for plant cell fermentation. Phyton’s website is www.phytonbiotech.com.

         DFB Pharmaceuticals Inc. is a privately held Texas corporation that provides technology-driven pharmaceutical products, outsourcing services, and licensing opportunities to the healthcare industry worldwide through its affiliates, HEALTHPOINT, Ltd. and Coria Laboratories, Ltd., both branded marketing organizations, DPT Laboratories, Ltd., an outsourcing service organization to the pharmaceutical industry, and DFB Bioscience, focusing on cell based therapeutic research and development. Visit www.dfb.com for additional information.

         * TAXOL is a registered trademark of Bristol-Myers Squibb Company.