London, March 29, 2005 - The expanded Corporate Group in Morrison & Foerster's London office has had a busy six weeks. The team has advised on a number of significant transactions in the life sciences sector including two initial public offerings and the acquisition of Cambridge Biotechnology by Biovitrum.

The corporate practice was boosted substantially in February with the hire of partners Paul Claydon and James Gubbins and a number of associates. The new team maintains a general corporate practice with capabilities in a wide range of transactions including initial public offerings and other securities issues, private equity transactions and mergers and acquisitions. They also bring significant expertise in the life sciences sector. A recent Global Counsel Life Sciences Handbook described Paul Claydon as "firmly established as a major player in the biotech and pharmaceutical sectors", while James Gubbins is described as a "high profile corporate and finance specialist with an enviable biotech and pharmaceutical sector track record."

London's Head of Corporate, Paul Claydon said, "We have certainly hit the ground running. I am even more delighted that given our current pipeline of work, it looks as though we will continue to be as busy during the second quarter."

---

Ardana IPO: A team led by Paul Claydon, and including partner James Gubbins and associates Bradley Theobald, James Halstead and James Ryan, advised Ardana, an emerging pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and marketing of products to improve human reproductive health, on its successful initial public offering on the Official List and related £21million fundraising.

Plethora IPO: A team led by James Gubbins, and including associates Natalie Diep and Hamid Rashidmanesh advised Plethora, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of products for the treatment of urological disease, on its successful initial public offering on the Alternative Investment Market and related £10million fundraising.

Cambridge Biotechnology Sale: Partner, Paul Claydon and associate James Halstead acted on the sale of privately held drug discovery company Cambridge Biotechnology to the Swedish company Biovitrum. Cambridge Biotechnology is developing compounds for obesity, pain and inflammation, while Biovitrum develops compounds for metabolic diseases, oncology and ophthalmology. Morrison & Foerster acted for the selling venture capital investors: Merlin BioSciences, Cambridge Gateway, Avlar BioVentures, Northern Investors and Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation.