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Suzuken Co., Ltd Invests in Glucon; Suzuken Co. to launch Glucon’s Glucose Monitoring Watch -- GMW -- in Japan


WEBWIRE

BOULDER, CO -- 12/20/2004 -- Glucon, developer of a continuous, noninvasive, glucose monitoring technology for home and clinical use, today named Suzuken Co., Ltd (TSE:9987), Japan’s largest pharmaceuticals distributor, as one of the company’s strategic investors. Suzuken Co.’s equity investment in Glucon is part of the $14.8 million financing round made public in September 2004. Triangle Technologies was instrumental in helping to form the current strategic relationship between Glucon and Suzuken.


“Suzuken continuously searches worldwide for scientifically sound technologies which are likely to fill an unmet need in the Japanese health care market. We believe that Glucon’s Glucose Monitoring Watch (GMW) will revolutionize the treatment of diabetes and lead to better healthcare for diabetes patients in Japan,” said Suzuken General Manager, Mr. Shigeru Wada.

Under the terms of the agreement, Suzuken will manage the regulatory process in Japan and will have the exclusive rights to market the GMW in the Japanese market. Suzuken and its subsidiaries are major distributors of diabetes-related devices and pharmaceuticals. Suzuken currently controls more than 50% of the diabetes market in Japan through its SKK subsidiary. Japan is the second largest healthcare market in the world in terms of total spending.

“It is quite an honor to be associated with Suzuken, an industry giant with a dominant market share in blood glucose testing devices. Suzuken is both a strategic investor and a scientific partner for which we have great respect and admiration,” said Glucon CEO Dan Goldberger.

“We are very proud of this strategic relationship, particularly as Suzuken had evaluated dozens of glucose monitoring projects internationally before selecting to invest in Glucon’s,” commented Yoshinori Oikawa, Vice President of Triangle Technologies.

About Suzuken

Suzuken is Japan’s leading provider of pharmaceuticals and healthcare-related products. With its subsidiaries and associated companies, Suzuken serves approximately 90,000 healthcare organizations and dispensing pharmacies in Japan and plans to establish a nationwide presence and a market share of 25% by 2010. Leveraging its core pharmaceutical business, Suzuken is developing innovative services for the distribution of healthcare products. Suzuken intends to remain the first choice of customers as Japan’s premier healthcare solution provider. For more information:http://www.suzuken.co.jp.

About Glucon

Glucon (www.glucon.com), developer of a continuous, non-invasive, blood glucose (sugar) monitoring technology for home and clinical use, was founded in 2000 by two Israeli scientists, Company President Ron Nagar and V.P. of R&D, Dr. Benny Pesach. Glucon’s technology enables blood glucose measurements to be accessed directly from inside the blood vessels and offers an improved method both for specificity (identification) and sensitivity (detection of level changes) of the glucose measurement. The company’s desktop prototype device, the Glucose Monitoring Watch (GMW) is currently undergoing extensive clinical trials. Seed financing was provided by InnoMed Ventures, the life science fund of Jerusalem Global Ventures. Additional investors include Giza Venture Capital, Infinity Venture Capital Fund, Ascend Technology Ventures, Reslo Life Science and Suzuken.

About Triangle Technologies

Triangle Technologies (www.triangletech.com) is a leader in forming strategic alliances between major Japanese partners and non-Japanese, technology-based ventures throughout the world. The company has 11 industry specialists in both Israel and Japan. Founded by Dr. Daniel Isenberg in 1989, formerly on the faculty of the Harvard Business School, Triangle Technologies has executed more than 100 transactions with Japanese partners in life sciences, information technology, communications, and advanced industrial products. Triangle Technologies has assisted in about 100 deals, worth an aggregate $400 million. Triangle’s customers include Given Imaging (Nasdaq: GIVN; TASE:GIVN), Discretix, Exanet, Accord Telecommunications, Optibase (Nasdaq: OBAS), Voltaire Inc., Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (Nasdaq: TEVA; TASE: TEVA), ECI Telecom (Nasdaq: ECIL), BigBand Networks, Compugen (Nasdaq: CGEN; TASE: CGEN), and Glucon.



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