Debiotech and Ioltech sign exclusive agreement relating to bypass syringe technology (DebioPass^TM) for hyaluronic acid eye surgery indications

Lausanne, Switzerland, June 30, 2003 - Debiotech, S.A., a privately held Swiss Medical Device company (www.debiotech.com), announced today that it has entered into a long term license and technology access Agreement with Ioltech Laboratories SA, a French corporation (www.ioltech.com), regarding Debiotech's innovative double compartment syringe system (DebioPass^TM) for use with hyaluronic acid, in particular for eye surgery indications.

Under this Agreement, Ioltech acquired exclusive rights to manufacture and market a new presentation of hyaluronic acid, in particular for eye surgery indications. The agreement is based on upfront payments plus royalties to Debiotech.

The DebioPass^TM syringe technology developed by Debiotech, together with its unique patented rubber stopper, provides easy to use and accurate sequential injection of two separate compartments. This technology should offer multiple advantages, in particular for hyaluronic acid injection.

"It is a great pleasure for us to collaborate with Ioltech, which has proven to be an extremely dynamic corporation with very innovative ideas and brilliant marketing strategies. It is further a wonderful application of our bypass syringe technology which, thanks its simplicity, should be applied into a final approved innovative product presentation in a very short period of time. The DebioPass sequential injection syringe system can further be applied to many other drug candidates, including for heparin and/or saline flush injections, thereby limiting the risk of contamination related to the conventional use of multiple syringes." says Frédéric Neftel, M.D., CEO of DEBIOTECH.

"We are very pleased to have signed an agreement with Debiotech regarding the bypass syringe technology. This collaboration will allow Ioltech to offer to ophthalmic surgeons a new device more simple to use, safer and which takes care of environment as it reduces volume of wastes. This also opens perspectives of evolution which should generate market shares win for us." Philippe Tourrette, CEO of IOLTECH.

The DebioPass^TM syringe system is part of Debiotech's advanced drug delivery systems designed to meet the growing market need for improved administration systems, particularly in areas requiring less manipulations and contamination risks, such as surgery and/or hospitalisation.

The DebioPass^TM innovative double chamber syringe can be used for sequential injection of two different drugs prefilled in the same standard syringe ; or for flushing the drug prefilled in the first chamber with either saline solution or heparine lock contained in the second chamber ; or for the extemporaneously filling of drug from a vial into a syringe with already the second chamber prefilled (e.g. saline or heparine solution) and the sequential injection of such drug and solution with the same syringe.

For further information, please contact:

- for Debiotech:
    Alan How
    Business Development Manager
    28 avenue de Sevelin
    1004 Lausanne
    Switzerland
    (email: );

- for Ioltech:
    Philippe Tourrette
    CEO
    avenue Paul Langevin
    BP 5
    17053 La Rochelle cedex 9
    (email: )