Caprion Pharmaceuticals Inc. and McGill University have entered into a collaborative agreement to expand the Company's proteomics research. Under the terms of this agreement, Caprion will provide McGill with financial support for proteomics research carried out by Dr. John Bergeron, Chair of the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology at McGill University and Caprion's Chief Scientific Officer for Proteomics.

The goals of this collaboration are to rapidly incorporate technical innovations occurring at the University into Caprion's industrial processes, and to accelerate the commercialization of discoveries in the area of proteomics.

Caprion will have access to certain intellectual property developed under this collaboration, and will have exclusive rights to license any proteomic technologies developed. Caprion funding to McGill for these programs could exceed $1 million in the next five years.

"We are very excited to announce this collaboration with McGill, a world-renowned research institution that appreciates working with industry to bring such important discoveries to the market," said Lloyd M. Segal, President and CEO of Caprion Pharmaceuticals. "We look forward to continuing our collaborative work with top-notch researchers such as Dr. John Bergeron to push the limits of current approaches in proteomics-based drug discovery."

"Partnering with Caprion provides significant long-term funding that is not always available to our academic researchers," said Dr. Pierre Belanger, Vice Principal (Research) at McGill University. "This alliance supports fundamental research at McGill while helping train the next generation of graduates to better meet industrial needs. This partnership is expected to achieve significant spin-off benefits to the scientific community, promising commercial applications and noteworthy advancements in the field of proteomics" added Dr. Abe Fuks, Dean of Medicine at McGill:

Caprion uses its proprietary subcellular proteomics discovery platform, CellCarta, to identify biologically relevant targets and insights for accelerated drug discovery. Caprion has invested heavily in its proteomics research by building a state-of-the-art facility in Montreal (Ville St-Laurent Technoparc). To further enhance its technology, the Company has entered into collaborations with strategic technology suppliers such as Micromass, Sun Microsystems, Oracle Corporation and CGI Group.