Pevion Biotech Appoints New CEO and Secures CHF 10 Million Financing

BERNE, Switzerland, September 7, 2010 /PRNewswire/ — Pevion Biotech AG
announced today the appointment of Evert Kueppers as its new Chief Executive
Officer, succeeding Thomas Stauffer.

“We would like to thank Thomas for his excellent contributions over the
years and wish him all the best in his new position,” said Klaus Breiner of
BB Biotech Ventures and Chairman of the Board of Directors. “We are very
pleased that we could attract Evert to become the new CEO of Pevion. With his
experience and hands-on approach, Evert is a perfect fit to lead the Company
in this exciting phase.”

Prior to joining Pevion, Evert Kueppers was CEO of Pieris AG, a
Munich-based biotechnology company, which he successfully restructured and
refinanced, raising a total US$ 45 million. Before that, Evert was Head of
Business Development at IDEA AG, where he was instrumental in corporate
development and partnering activities. Before joining the biotech industry,
he spent several years in the International Operations of BASF Pharma (now

Abbott Labs) and was a management consultant with the global health care team
of AT Kearney in London. Evert holds an advanced degree in Biomedical
Sciences from Leiden University and an MBA from RSM/Erasmus University. He
currently also serves on the Board of Cenix Bioscience.

At the same time, the Company secured further financing commitments of
CHF 10 million from its existing investors, BZ Bank, BB Biotech Ventures and
Core Capital. Pevion plans to raise additional financing over the next twelve
months to broaden and further its pipeline. “Pevion has reached an important
stage in its development as its candidate products reach for critical
milestones. This financing commitment should take the Company a long way
towards achieving further product validation and reaching important company
value inflection points,” added Joseph Manko of BZ Bank and member of the
Board of Directors. “We are looking forward to working with Evert to deliver
on Pevion’s potential.”

“The use of virus-like particles is a proven approach to develop
effective and safe vaccines,” said Evert Kueppers, CEO of Pevion Biotech. “I
am excited to take on this new challenge to bring the company to the next
level, working with a team of highly skilled researchers and vaccine
developers.”

About Pevion Biotech

Pevion Biotech is an independent Swiss vaccine company that develops next
generation vaccines based on its clinically and commercially validated
virosome technology. Its proprietary pipeline includes a clinical stage
candidiasis vaccine and preclinical programmes in RSV and pandemic flu. A
clinical stage malaria vaccine candidate has been outlicensed and the
Company`s technology is being used for an HIV vaccine currently in human
trials. The Company has in-house development capability and expertise,
including a state-of-the-art and industrially scalable GMP manufacturing
process. Located near Bern, Pevion was founded in 2002 as an industrial
spin-off of Bachem AG (SWX: BANB) and Berna Biotech, now Crucell, (SWX: CRX),
and raised a total of CHF 45 million to date from its founders and investors,
BZ Bank, BB Biotech Venture and Core Capital Partners.

About Virosomes

Virosomes are the only regulatory and market-approved vaccine technology
to fulfill carrier and adjuvant functions in one. Essentially, virosomes
represent reconstituted empty influenza virus envelopes, devoid of the
genetic material of the source virus. As such, virosomes do not replicate and
are therefore an ideal combination of carrier plus adjuvant for almost any
given antigen, including peptide or protein derived antigens. Two
virosome-based vaccines (Epaxal(R) and Inflexal(R) V, marketed by Crucell)
are licensed in over 40 countries, and more than 50 million doses of these
vaccines have been commercially distributed, thereby providing a solid safety
and efficacy track record.

    Contact:

    Evert Kueppers, CEO
    Phone: +41-31-550-44-44
    E-Mail: evert.kueppers@pevion.com

SOURCE Pevion Biotech AG