Research Highlighting Microjet Technology Published in Proceedings of the

National Academy of Sciences

    SAN JOSE, May 10 /PRNewswire/ -- StrataGent Life Sciences, Inc., a
 privately held specialty drug therapy company located in San Jose,
 California, today announced that it closed a $16 million Series B round of
 financing led by Essex Woodlands Health Ventures. Quantum Technology
 Partners, the Series A investor, and Aphelion Capital, also participated in
 this round. StrataGent received the first tranche of investment in the
 amount of $6.65 million, with the balance deliverable next year based on
 certain milestones being achieved by the company.
     "We are excited to welcome Essex Woodlands to our team," said
 co-founder Ruben Rathnasingham. "Having such an experienced investment
 group fund our next development stage reinforces our confidence in the
 potential for our microjet technology."
     "StrataGent has created an impressive technology with a strong
 intellectual property position," commented Ron Eastman of Essex Woodlands.
 "Its ability to deliver a pipeline of commercially attractive molecules,
 both large and small, provides significant opportunities for the company.
 With the ability to deliver off-the-shelf formulations, we expect
 StrataGent can move rapidly to capture these opportunities."
     StrataGent's patent pending microjet system was recently featured in
 research published in the March 13, 2007 issue of the Proceedings of the
 National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Co-founder Ravi Srinivasan commented,
 "Now we are well positioned to rapidly leverage our development successes
 such as those reported in the recent PNAS publication, which highlights our
 technology and describes the tremendous potential for microjet delivery of
 a broad array of drugs that will ultimately provide significant patient
 benefit."
     About StrataGent Life Sciences, Inc.
     StrataGent Life Sciences, Inc. is a specialty drug therapy company
 developing painless, non-invasive versions of therapies that would
 otherwise be injected. Its products are based on its proprietary microjet
 technology, which delivers large and small therapeutic molecules without a
 device penetrating into or through the skin. In May of 2004, StrataGent
 received a $2 million award from the Advanced Technology Program (ATP) at
 the National Institute of Standards and Technology to support the
 development of the StrataGent microjet technology.
     About Essex Woodlands Health Ventures
     Essex Woodlands Health Ventures (with roughly $1.6 billion under
 management) is one of the world's premier venture capital firms focused
 exclusively on the healthcare industry. Essex Woodlands recently raised
 their seventh fund of $600 million. The firm has offices in California,
 Texas, New York and London. The Essex Woodlands team has been involved in
 the founding, investing, and/or management of over 100 healthcare companies
 ranging across all sectors, stages and geography. For more information,
 visit www.ewhv.com.
     About Quantum Technology Partners
     Quantum Technology Partners, located in Silicon Valley, invests in
 early stage Information Technology and Life Sciences companies in the U.S.
 and Europe. Quantum was founded in 2000 and co-invests with leading venture
 capital firms. For more information about Quantum, go to www.quantumtp.com.
     About Aphelion Capital
     Aphelion Capital(R), LLC makes public and private investments in the
 Life Sciences Industry. Aphelion's managers have extensive experience
 investing across both the public and private equity markets. Aphelion
 invests in companies across all stages and therapeutic areas, with a focus
 on companies with low capital requirements and short time lines to market.
 The Fund is generally a long term investor in companies that we believe
 have superior products and strong management teams. For more information,
 visit www.aphelioncapital.net
 
 

SOURCE San Jose BioCenter; StrataGent Life Sciences, Inc.