Announcement no. 2

BioPorto’s NGAL cut-off patent rejected following a decision in the opposition case

BioPorto’s NGAL cut-off patent, EP1831699, which was issued in Europe in November 2010, has been provisionally rejected according to the decision issued by the first instance in the opposition case filed with the European Patent Office (EPO) in The Hague. As BioPorto and Høiberg (BioPorto’s patent consultant) believe that the decision is erroneous, BioPorto is appealing the decision and, as a result, the patent is still in effect.

The EPO’s opinion is that there is an insufficient description in the patent to perform the method as specified in claim 1. The reason for this opinion is not specified in the EPO’s oral decision but will be given when the EPO provides a written decision, which is expected to be available within one or two months. Susanne Høiberg, who represented BioPorto in the proceedings, has pleaded the case in accordance with the two reviews submitted in the case, first the review of December 23, 2010, and recently the review of December 7, 2011. In accordance with the arguments put forward, the description in the patent is deemed sufficient for performing the method specified in claim 1. It has not been possible to attempt to meet the demands of the EPO by submitting a revised set of claims, as the EPO has yet to cite the reason for its decision. The appeal is expected to be initiated in early June 2012.

Valid cut-off patents issued in Japan, India, New Zealand, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Africa, South Korea, Australia and Israel and cut-off patent applications pending in the US, Canada and China are not affected by this decision. Nor does the decision affect BioPorto’s other NGAL IPs, including the NGAL trauma patent in Europe.

BioPorto offers other players in the NGAL sector the option of licensing access to BioPorto’s NGAL IP rights to non-homogeneous test formats. The first licensing agreement concerning access to BioPorto’s NGAL IP rights was entered into in 2011 with Instrumentation Laboratory. As a result of the current EPO decision, further negotiations concerning licensing access are being suspended until the patent situation in Europe, the US and China has been further clarified.

For further information, please contact:

Frank Harder, CFO,

Thea Olesen, CEO

Telephone +45 4529 0000, e-mail investor@bioporto.com