Israeli Drug Company BioLineRx Expanding to Maryland

Subsidiary of BioLineRx Opens U.S. Office in Rockville, Hires Local Business Development Executive

BALTIMORE, MD -- May 29, 2008 – As part of his economic development mission to Israel, Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley today announced that BioLineRx USA, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of BioLineRx, one of Israel’s leading drug development companies, has opened a U.S. office in Maryland.

BioLineRx USA has already hired a local Vice President of Business Development to seek out potential collaborative opportunities for BioLineRx in Maryland and the U.S.

The announcement came after the Governor met with company CEO Dr. Morris Laster and the BioLineRx management team at the Israel Biomed 2008 Conference in Tel Aviv. Founded in 2003 by Teva Pharmaceuticals and other leading players in the Israeli life science industry, BioLineRx has partnered with researchers, universities and biotech companies to further the commercialization of promising drugs from early stage discovery and lead generation to advanced clinical trials.

“Our wealth of cutting edge bioscience companies, our world-class public and private sector research centers and our highly educated and talented workforce makes Maryland a natural fit for a company on the move like BioLineRx,” said Governor O’Malley. “We look forward to working with BioLineRx to further its mission of developing new drugs that offer hope to millions of people around the world.”

“The rapid expansion and advancement of our clinical and pre-clinical pipeline, now puts us in a prime position to enter into strategic alliances and partnership collaborations, specifically for BL-1020, for the treatment of schizophrenia, currently in Phase 2 testing and BL-1040 for the treatment of acute myocardial infarction, in Phase 1/2 testing," stated Morris C. Laster, MD, chief executive officer of BioLineRx. "At this point it has become essential to strengthen our business development efforts to help us evolve to the next stage. Maryland, with its leading research institutions and biomedical industry, was a natural choice for opening our US subsidiary.”

The announcement came mid-way through Governor O’Malley’s week-long economic development mission to Israel, which began May 27. The Governor, accompanied by a number of Maryland business and Jewish community leaders, traveled to Israel to speak at the prestigious Israel Biomed 2008 Conference in Tel Aviv and also to meet with a number of Israeli government officials and Israeli businesses considering expanding or locating offices in Maryland.

The goal of the mission is to encourage more foreign direct investment in Maryland by Israeli companies, which already have a significant presence in the State. Nearly 30 Israeli companies maintain offices in Maryland, including the U.S. business development offices of Israel’s largest defense contractors, Rafael and Israel Military Industries (IMI). In addition, Israel’s largest company and the largest manufacturer of generic drugs in the world, Teva Pharmaceuticals, now has a Maryland presence after its January 2008 acquisition of Rockville-based CoGenesys. Other Israeli companies in Maryland include Controp Precision Instruments, Verint Systems, Vuance, Compugen and Medispec.

In 2005, the latest data available, investment by foreign-owned companies in Maryland was $11.9 billion. An estimated 105,000 jobs, or 5.5 percent of the State’s private sector employment, can be attributed to Maryland’s foreign-owned firms, ranking Maryland 17th in the nation in the number of those employed by U.S. subsidiaries. Among the top countries with U.S. headquarters or subsidiaries in Maryland are the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, Canada, France, The Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland, Israel and Finland.

BioLineRx, a clinical stage drug development company traded on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, is dedicated to building a robust pipeline of promising therapeutics for unmet medical needs. The Company’s leading programs are BL-1020 for the treatment of schizophrenia, which recently completed Phase 2a trials and will be tested in Phase 2b trials shortly, and BL-1040 for the treatment of damaged heart tissue post-myocardial infarction, which is undergoing a Phase 1/2 study. Additional products under development include compounds for the treatment of cancer and CNS, cardiovascular, metabolic, infectious and autoimmune diseases.

The company was founded in 2003 by leaders in the Israeli life science arena including Teva Pharmaceuticals Ltd., venture capital firms Giza Venture Capital and Pitango Venture Capital, and Hadasit, the technology transfer company of Hadassah Hospital and the Jerusalem Development Authority.

Source: Maryland Governor

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