BIO CEO & Investor Conference to Spotlight Sarbanes-Oxley Panel

WASHINGTON, D.C. (February 6, 2006) – The eighth annual Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) CEO & Investor Conference Feb. 14 and 15, 2006, in New York City will feature a business roundtable on the impact of Section 404 (internal controls) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act on smaller public companies.

The panel titled “Sarbanes-Oxley Blues – Impact of Section 404 and Prescription for Reform” will take place from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 14, 2006, in the Conrad Suite of the Waldorf=Astoria.

Sarbanes-Oxley, the corporate governance law regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), requires publicly traded companies to adhere to standards that call for overly detailed internal controls of financial transactions and auditing procedures. BIO has requested that the SEC ease sections of the law that are creating burdensome, costly and unintended consequences for small public companies.

Panel members are:

·              Rick Brounstein, member of the SEC Advisory Committee on Smaller Public Companies, and executive vice president of Calypte Biomedical Corp., of Lake Oswego, Ore.

·              Boyd Clarke, chairman and CEO of Neose Technologies, of Horsham, Pa.

·              Gary Lessing, chief financial officer of Avalon Pharmaceuticals, of Germantown, Md.

·              Paul Laikind, chairman, president and CEO, of Metabasis Therapeutics, of San Diego.

Brounstein sits on the 21-member advisory committee organized by the SEC to consider ways of improving the impact of Sarbanes-Oxley on small public companies. The advisory committee is scheduled to submit an interim report with recommendations for potential revisions to Sarbanes-Oxley in late February. The final report is due in April.

More than 2,000 companies, institutional investors, money managers and analysts will attend the BIO CEO & Investor Conference. The conference is designed to fuel industry growth and to educate new investors on the value, risks and rewards offered by the industry. 

Advance media registration closes at 5 p.m. today.  This will be the last opportunity for freelance journalists and online publications to register for media credentials.  To register online, visit http://www.bio.org/news/pressreg/mediareg.asp?multievent=13.  

Onsite registration will be available from 4 to 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 13, 2006, in the Waldorf=Astoria’s Hilton Room.  Only reporters and editors working full-time for print or broadcast news organizations may register onsite with valid media credentials.

BIO represents more than 1,100 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations across the United States and 31 other nations. BIO members are involved in the research and development of healthcare, agricultural, industrial and environmental biotechnology products.

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