James D. Watson Helix 2003 Award to be Presented at BIO CEO and Investor Conference

WASHINGTON, D.C. (February 12, 2003) --- In recognition of biotechnology corporate excellence, the eighth annual Helix Award will be presented to three deserving companies on Feb. 27 at the Biotechnology Industry Organization’s CEO and Investor Conference at the Waldorf=Astoria Hotel in New York City. The conference begins Feb. 25. Registration is available online at www.bio.org/ceo/2003.

Renamed the James D. Watson Helix 2003 Award in honor of the Nobel Laureate recognized as one of the co-founders of modern biotechnology, the award will honor those companies that demonstrated significant achievement and leadership in scientific/product development, economic growth and corporate citizenship in 2002. This year, the award will be presented to a small/mid-cap, large-cap and international biotechnology company.

Public and private U.S. and foreign-based biotechnology companies are eligible for award nomination. An independent panel of distinguished judges representing the biotechnology community will review the nominees, and KPMG LLP will tabulate the results.

Past recipients of the Helix Award include: CV Therapeutics (Large-cap recipient in 2002), Isis Pharmaceuticals (Mid-cap recipient in 2002), OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (2001), Genentech Inc. (2000), Immunex (1999) and Biogen, Inc. (1998).

The awards will be announced on Feb. 27 following the luncheon keynote address by FDA Commissioner Mark McClellan, M.D., Ph.D. BIO and the Long Island Life Sciences Initiative will present the awards, which are jointly sponsored by the Center for Biotechnology at Stony Brook and Stony Brook University.

BIO represents more than 1,100 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations in all 50 U.S. states and 33 other nations. BIO members are involved in the research and development of health care, agricultural, industrial and environmental biotechnology products.

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