NASHVILLE, Tennessee (July 14, 2004) – Cumberland Emerging Technologies (CET) and Avatar BioSci, Inc. have signed an agreement making Avatar one of the growing number of tenants to lease space in CET’s downtown Life Sciences Facility, adjacent to the Union Station Hotel.

Avatar is a privately held company formed to advance drug development in infectious disease by identifying genes in “host cells” which are targets of the disease, and therefore essential to the infection process. Identification of these genes allows Avatar to block or protect them rather than try to debilitate the disease directly, thereby halting the disease and reducing or eliminating its ability to mutate and resist treatment. The methodology for this identification, called “gene-trapping,” was developed by Don Rubin, M.D., Professor of Medicine, Microbiology & Immunology at Vanderbilt University, and co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Avatar. His methodology was based upon the “gene-trap” tool developed by another Avatar co-founder, H. Earl Ruley, Professor of Microbiology & Immunology at Vanderbilt.

“We are pleased to welcome Avatar to our Life Sciences Facility,” said A.J. Kazimi, CEO of Cumberland Pharmaceuticals and CET. “They are exactly the type of tenant we had in mind when we developed the Center, and we are excited to provide laboratory and equipment infrastructure to support the promising research they are conducting.”

Avatar’s proprietary technology allows for very timely, cost-efficient target selection, enabling them to examine not only diseases such as HIV and flu, but also to investigate diseases in markets traditionally considered non-commercial by the pharmaceutical industry. Some of these markets include emerging diseases (SARS, Avian flu) and bioterrorist-caused diseases (Ebola, Marburg). Avatar has entered into collaborations with The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the University of Georgia to use “gene-trapping” in the study of the aforementioned diseases as well as many others.

“Our technology can dramatically accelerate the time-line for drug development, allowing us to anticipate problems rather than to just react,” said Avatar CEO, Mark Germain. “Cumberland Emerging Technologies provides just the type of laboratory facility we need to further this important work.”

Cumberland Emerging Technologies Inc. (CET) is a joint initiative between Vanderbilt University, Cumberland Pharmaceuticals Inc, and the Tennessee Technology Development Corporation (TTDC). The mission of CET (www.cet-fund.com) is to bring biomedical technologies and products conceived at Vanderbilt and other regional research centers to the commercial marketplace. CET helps manage the development and commercialization process for select projects, and provides expertise on intellectual property, regulatory, manufacturing, and marketing issues that are critical to successful new biomedical products. The shared laboratory was supported by a $100,000 Tennessee Industrial Infrastructure Program (TIIP) grant to CET and the TTDC.

Contact: Rebecca Kirkham
Lovell Communications
(615) 297-7766

Contact: Mark S. Germain
Avatar BioSci, Inc.
(914) 282-5798
marel1973@earthlink.net

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (March 17, 2004) – Cumberland Emerging Technologies Inc. (CET) is pleased to announce the appointment of Christopher D. McKinney, Ph.D., Jeff M.S. Kaplan, Dan J. Marcum and James P. Leyda to its board of directors.

Christopher McKinney serves as the Director of the Vanderbilt University’s Office of Technology Transfer and Enterprise Development. He leads the marketing and licensing of promising new technologies as well as the university’s new venture development and business incubation efforts. Dr. McKinney has more than a dozen years of experience in technology transfer, having worked in both university and national laboratory environments.

Jeff Kaplan, J.D. is Associate Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC). Prior to joining VUMC, he was Executive Vice President of Saint Thomas Health Services after serving as Baptist Hospital’s lead negotiator for the $355 million acquisition of Baptist by Ascension Health, Saint Thomas Hospital’s parent company. In addition to holding senior leadership positions at several other hospitals, Mr. Kaplan spent 13 years in higher education, working at The Ohio State University and the University of Vermont.

Dan J. Marcum is the chairman of the Tennessee Technology Development Corporation, a public entity formed to advance technology-driven companies. He is also the managing partner of Marcum Capital, a private merchant banking firm specializing in raising equity capital for emerging high-tech companies. Previously, he headed Micro Craft, Inc., a Tennessee-based aerospace company where he oversaw its growth to an industry leader in aerodynamic, propulsion and space flight research.

James P. Leyda, Ph.D. serves as Director of Corporate Development for CET. He previously spent many years in leadership positions at what became Hoechst Marion Roussel with responsibilities ranging from commercial and new product development to strategic research alliances. Prior to joining CET, Dr. Leyda was President & Chief Executive Officer of Emerging Concepts, Inc., a company focused on commercializing technology from the Cincinnati and Ohio Valley region, where he oversaw technology development operations and funding initiatives that resulted in several million dollars in grant awards primarily through state and federal small business programs.

“We are pleased to welcome individuals of this caliber to the CET board,” said A.J. Kazimi, President of CET and Cumberland Pharmaceuticals. “Each of these individuals brings outstanding expertise in his particular specialty, which will be instrumental in taking our mission of commercializing Tennessee-based biomedical technologies to the next level.”

Cumberland Emerging Technologies Inc. (CET) is a joint initiative between Vanderbilt University, Cumberland Pharmaceuticals Inc., and the Tennessee Technology Development Corporation (TTDC). The mission of CET is to bring biomedical technologies and products conceived at Vanderbilt and other Tennessee research centers to the commercial marketplace. CET manages the development and commercialization process for select projects, and provides critical expertise on intellectual property, regulatory, manufacturing, and marketing issues that are critical to successful new biomedical products.

CET has sponsored Middle Tennessee’s first life sciences incubator located in downtown Nashville adjacent to the Union Station Hotel and the Frist Visual Arts Center. This Life Sciences Center provides laboratory space, equipment and other support to a growing number of tenants who specialize in medical products and research advancements. For more information, visit www.CET-Fund.com.