The use of endoderm for drug screening is a cornerstone of our drug discoveryplatform said John

“The use of endoderm for drug screening is a cornerstone of our drug discoveryplatform,” said John West, President & CEO of Novocell. “Embryonic stem cellscan be grown almost indefinitely in culture, and therefore a limitless supply ofendoderm and endoderm-derived cells can be generated. This meets a long-standingneed of major pharmaceutical companies for human cells. Our technology enablesthe identification of potential endoderm differentiation factors, leading topotential discovery of new drugs & agents for research, and, ultimately,therapeutic use.” “We have patent protection for both human endoderm (U.S Patent No. 7,510,876issued on March 31, 2009) and now for its implementation in drug discovery,”said E. Emmanuel Baetge, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer for Novocell.

“The mostimportant application of this patent will be the use of our patented humanendoderm cells to screen for agents that potentially affect endodermdifferentiation, for example, to any of the important cells derived fromendoderm such as lung, liver, intestine, pancreas, thymus, parathyroid andthyroid.” About NovocellNovocell, Inc., is a stem cell engineering company with product developmentoperations in San Diego, California, and Athens, Georgia. Its core expertise isin efficient differentiation and encapsulation of human stem cells fortherapeutic applications in diabetes. Its technology is expected to providemajor advantages in patient treatment efficacy, safety, and manufacturing costs.These cells also provide a significant advantage for cell-based compoundscreening in drug discovery. The Company was founded in 1999 and merged withCyThera, Inc., and BresaGen, Inc., in 2004. Novocell was the first to demonstrate that implantation of hES-derivedpancreatic cells into mice results in the generation of glucose-responsiveinsulin producing cells.

Such cells exhibit properties characteristic offunctional human adult pancreatic insulin producing cells and provide protectionin an animal model of diabetes characterized by loss of pancreatic insulinproducing cells. See our landmark publications in Nature Biotechnology: D`Amouret al (2005), D`Amour et al (2006) and Kroon et al (2008). For more information, please visit Novocell, Inc.Liz Bui, J.D., Ph.D., Director of Intellectual Property & Corporate DevelopmentorRathbun Communications, Inc.Julie Rathbun, Copyright Business Wire 2009. New Alliance to Help Over 4,000 Maine Medical Providers Operate More EfficientMedical Offices and Participate in New Federal HITECH Stimulus ActPORTLAND, Maine & WATERTOWN, Mass.–(Business Wire)–athenahealth, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHN), a leading provider of Internet-based businessservices to physician practices, and Medical Network, Inc.