Althea Presents Application of Gene Expression Technology for Cancer Diagnostics at the American Society of Clinical Oncology Meeting

SAN DIEGO, CA -- Althea Technologies, Inc., a leading provider of innovative technologies for pharmaceutical and clinical services, announced that application of its multiplexed PCR technology for quantitative gene expression in cancer diagnosis will be presented at the 41st Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), scheduled for May 13 - 17, 2005, in Orlando, Florida. The presentation will describe application of Althea’s eXpress Profiling™ technology for the use in diagnosis of multiple childhood cancers. Recently licensed to Beckman Coulter, Inc., the eXpress Profiling(TM) technology is a high-throughput, highly multiplexed, PCR-based gene expression analysis technique that can be used to quantitate the gene expression values of 20-40 genes in a single PCR reaction.

Althea collaborated with Dr. Javed Khan, an oncologist working in the Pediatric Oncology Branch of the NCI, in this effort which demonstrates the potential utility of this technique with tumor biopsies. Dr. Khan will also present in an educational session on the integration of genomics into the clinical practice of pediatric oncology. Althea’s presentation, co-authored by Dr. Gary Fogel, Vice President of Natural Selection, Inc., titled “Application of Multiplexed RT-PCR for Cancer Diagnosis,” highlights advancements made under a National Cancer Institute (NCI) grant to establish validated, quantitative gene expression assays that serve as genetic biomarkers for the diagnosis of pediatric cancers, such as neuroblastoma and Burkitt’s lymphoma.

“We are very excited by the potentially valuable prognostic and diagnostic assays which we are developing using gene expression biomarkers and the increasing pace of progress in applying gene expression technology to oncology,” stated Dr. Joseph Monforte, Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer of Althea. “We are hopeful that our eXpress Profiling™ technology will have broad applications, allowing researchers to develop gene signatures for various cancers and to better discriminate the different types or stages of cancer to treat patients more effectively.”

About Althea Technologies, Inc.

Althea Technologies, a leading San Diego-based pharmaceutical services firm, provides critical manufacturing and development services that support researchers worldwide in their advancement of novel therapies and efforts to apply new genomic information. Althea’s services include cGMP contract manufacturing of recombinant proteins and DNA-based therapeutics and vaccines, aseptic filling, and gene quantification using real-time PCR and gene expression analysis under GLP conditions. Additionally, Althea has introduced new services and technologies for the identification and understanding of gene signatures with innovative tools such as the company’s proprietary eXpress Profiling™ technology. For more information, visit www.altheatech.com.

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Alan Moore

Executive Vice President and CBO

Althea Technologies, Inc.

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