IP Group news 0

IP Group plc (LSE: IPO) ('IP Group' or the 'Company' or 'Group'), the intellectual property commercialisation company, is delighted to announce that it has appointed Dr Sam Williams as Chief Executive Officer of Modern Biosciences plc ('MBS' or 'Modern Biosciences'), its in-licensing and drug development subsidiary.

Sam, aged 37, is an award-winning biotechnology analyst with over ten years' experience in the financial services industry as well as expert life sciences knowledge, particularly in molecular biology.

Sam joins Modern Biosciences from Lehman Brothers where he was promoted to the role of Industry Group Leader for European Pharmaceuticals and Chemicals following a highly successful career as a biotechnology analyst. He was ranked the number one European Biotechnology equity analyst by Institutional Investor magazine in 2004, 2005 and 2006 and by Thomson Extel in 2004 and 2005.

Prior to joining Lehman Brothers in 2002, Sam was an analyst at the U.S. technology investment bank, Robertson Stephens. He started his career in finance as part of the Rothschild Bioscience Unit where he helped to advise International Biotechnology Trust and Biotechnology Investments Limited on investments in the private and public healthcare sectors.

Sam has a degree in biology from Oxford University and a PhD from the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge where he worked in the research group of Sir Gregory Winter FRS, scientific co-founder of Cambridge Antibody Technology (CAT) and Domantis. While in Cambridge, Sam co-developed antibody engineering technologies licensed to CAT by the Medical Research Council.

Alan Aubrey, Chief Executive of IP Group, said: "I'm delighted that Sam has joined Modern Biosciences. His experience of the financial services industry coupled with his background in life sciences made him an ideal choice for this role. Those skills will be invaluable to help progress MBS to the next stage of its development."

Dr Sam Williams, Chief Executive Officer of Modern Biosciences, said: "I am excited to be joining MBS which has a business model that addresses a significant unmet need in the development of high quality drug candidates. MBS has the capacity to create significant value from the intellectual property arising from the UK's world class research institutions."

For further information, please contact:

IP Group plc                                        020 7489 5200
Alan Aubrey, Chief Executive Officer
Liz Vaughan-Adams (communications)                  020 7489 5206/07979853802

Buchanan Communications                             020 7466 5000
Tim Anderson, Mary-Jane Johnson, Mark Court

Modern Biosciences                                  020 7002 1529
Dr Sam Williams

Notes for Editors

About IP Group

IP Group Plc is an intellectual property (IP) commercialisation company that specialises in commercialising university technology. Founded in 2001, IP Group listed on AiM in October 2003 and moved to the Official List in June 2006. It has made two acquisitions to date - Techtran, a company set up to commercialise university intellectual property under a long term contract with the University of Leeds, in 2005 and Top Technology Ventures, an investment adviser to early stage technology venture capital funds, in 2004.

The group has formed long-term partnerships with ten universities - the University of Oxford, King's College London, CNAP/University of York, the University of Leeds, the University of Bristol, the University of Surrey, the University of Southampton, Queen Mary (University of London), the University of Bath and the University of Glasgow.

As at 31 December 2006, 53 spin-out companies had been created among the group's university partners. Of those, eight have listed on the AiM market of the London Stock Exchange, one on PLUS Markets and there have been two trade sales.

For more information, please visit our website at www.ipgroupplc.com.

About Modern Biosciences

Modern Biosciences is a subsidiary of IP Group that was established in 2005 as a specialist drug in-licensing and development company. MBS' business model provides a channel for exciting early stage drug candidates to reach industry and is based around sourcing drug candidates from partner organisations, funding and managing development programmes to value inflexion and forming commercial alliances with industry for later stage development and marketing.

For more information, please visit our website at www.modernbiosciences.com.