Re Alliance

RNS Number:8983L
Tepnel Life Sciences PLC
04 June 2003




FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                               4 June 2003


        Tepnel Life Sciences and Professor John McCarthy Join Forces
          to Develop Novel Screening Technologies to Accelerate the 
                          Development of Antibiotics

Manchester, UK. 4 June 2003...Tepnel Life Sciences PLC (AIM: TED) has entered
into a collaborative agreement with Professor John McCarthy, Professor of
Chemical Biology at UMIST (University of Manchester Institute of Science and
Technology). The objective of the collaboration is the development of novel
ribosome-based anti-microbial screening technologies. These are intended to
enable pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to identify compounds that
have anti-microbial properties, thus accelerating the discovery of new
antibiotics.


Tepnel, which will own all intellectual property resulting from the
collaborative screening technology development, plans to offer this technology
to customers in the biopharmaceutical industry as part of its growing portfolio
of analytical services aimed at the drug discovery and development process.



Professor John McCarthy is a leading scientist within the field of
post-transcriptional gene expression, the biological process on which the new
anti-microbial screening technology will be based. He also leads the Manchester
Interdisciplinary Biocentre (MIB) project, an initiative that aims to forge
collaborations between the physical sciences, engineering and the biosciences,
and between industry and academia. The objective of such collaborations is to
generate new technologies that will aid biomedical scientists in their research.




Ben Matzilevich, Chief Executive Officer of Tepnel Life Sciences, comments: "We
are delighted to enter into collaboration with such a renowned and respected
scientist. John brings with him a wealth of experience and knowledge in
post-transcriptional research, which complements our own expertise with RNA
analysis and the development of marketable products and services from these
technologies."



Professor John McCarthy comments: "In the course of this collaboration, we hope
to pursue new strategies that will help us understand how to target key
processes in pathogenic organisms. This greater understanding, combined with
Tepnel's product development, commercial and marketing capabilities, will lead
to improved products that will accelerate the drug discovery process."





                                     -ends-



For Further Information:



Tepnel Life Sciences plc
Ben Matzilevich, CEO
Gron Ffoulkes-Davies, Finance Director
0161 946 2200



HCC De Facto Group
David Dible / Mark Swallow
020 7496 3300





Notes to Editors



Tepnel Life Sciences is a UK-based international life sciences instrumentation
and services company with a 'tri-polar' strategy focused on providing the
biomedical industry with high-throughput automated DNA purification systems,
manual DNA purification kits and reagents, as well as scientific services for
nucleic acid purification, drug analysis, genotyping and genetically modified
foods.



The Company was founded in 1992 to exploit DNA technology generated at UMIST
(University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology) and is quoted on
the AIM segment of the London Stock Exchange (AIM: TED).



www.tepnel.com




                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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