Solvo has been awarded the Hungarian Innovation Grand Prize

Budapest, April 4, 2005 - Solvo Biotechnology, Inc. won this year's Innovation Grand Prize. The company's outstanding product reduces the time of drug development research and cuts associated costs.

The official announcement of the XIII. Hungarian Innovation Grand Prize Competition winners took place in the Hungarian Parliament on 1 April 2005, where Dr. Ferenc Mádl, the President of the Republic of Hungary handed the prize to Mr. Ernő Duda, the CEO of Solvo Biotechnology.
The Hungarian Innovation Grand Prize was founded by the Hungarian Innovation Association in 1991 and is awarded annually to the institution or enterprise whose activities constitute the most profitable and significant innovation realized in the preceding year.

'Innovative thinking has an important role to play in the economy, competitiveness and the quality of life', said President Mádl in his opening speech.
Mr. Duda commented on winning the prize, 'It is remarkable that the winners of the past six years have all been associated with the field of life sciences. This proves that not only has Hungary got great traditions in chemical, biological and life science research but Hungarian companies are also able to develop products of international standards by utilizing these achievements.'
Solvo has declared that it will devote the money accompanying the prize to establish a grant scheme for talented young researchers.

Solvo was awarded the Grand Prize for the development and successful commercialization of its unique assay systems connected to ABC membrane transport proteins. The importance of this development lies in the fact that it enables the analysis of drug candidate molecules in a wide range of ABC transport proteins without animal tests. This significantly reduces the time of drug development research and cuts the costs of production.

Solvo Biotechnology, Inc. is an early-stage biopharmaceutical company active in the field of ABC-transporters and Drug Resistance. It also holds a number of patents related to drug targets and modulators, gene therapy applications as well as functional aspects of pharmacogenetics/pharmacogenomics.

In 2003 the Hungarian Venture Capital Association awarded SOLVO with a special recognition for its outstanding performance and embodying the company spirit of continuous innovation. In 2004 SOLVO ranked third among 'Rising Stars' in Deloitte & Touche's Technology Fast 50, a prestigious annual award honoring the 50 fastest growing Central European technology companies.

With close to two-dozen human and rat ABC transporter assays in its portfolio, SOLVO is the market leader in the field in vitro transporter assays. The ABC transporter assay results - together with physicochemical data and/or monolayer test results - provide an ADME prediction at relatively low cost before the compounds would enter expensive animal tests. The company also has a multidrug resistance related cancer diagnostic product on the market. SOLVO's scientific and business excellence stems from its dynamic, dedicated and professional personnel. This enables SOLVO to move towards the discovery and development of other cancer related products. The company's partners include the 10 biggest pharmaceutical and 5 largest biotechnology companies of the world. In 2004 Solvo quadrupled its income of the preceding year.