Medical Pioneer Dr. Emil Frei III to Head NEDAB Life Sciences Screening Committee

Market Wire, February, 2007

The Nevada Economic Development Advisory Board (NEDAB) announced the appointment of Dr. Emil Frei III to chair its Life Sciences Screening Committee. Dr. Frei will help identify growth-stage companies in the healthcare, medical devices, pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries that could potentially benefit from participation in capital markets to support their growth. Dr. Frei will also review business plans and conduct gap analysis to determine if prospective companies are candidates for NEDAB's support programs.

Dr. Frei is one of the world's leading oncologists, a pioneer of chemotherapy and a leader in medical research, clinical practice and education. His distinguished career includes 40 years in top leadership positions such as Chief of Medicine at National Cancer Institute, Associate Scientific Director at M. D. Anderson, and Director and Physician-in-Chief at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (formerly Sidney Farber Cancer Institute). He continues as Physician-in-Chief, Emeritus, at Dana-Farber.

Dr. Frei has made Nevada his home with his family since 2004 and already has close ties to the community. He previously worked with current Nevada Cancer Institute Director Nicholas Vogelzang, M.D., on the Cancer and Leukemia Group B (CALGB) clinical research group, of which Dr. Frei was Chairman at the time. He serves on the chapter board of the Southern Nevada Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, which will be hosting the inaugural Dr. Emil Frei III Symposium March 2-3. Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons has proclaimed March 3, 2007, as a day in honor of Dr. Emil Frei III. He has also recently received commendations or proclamations from:

--  Senator Harry Reid
--  Senator John Ensign
--  Congresswoman Shelley Berkley
--  Congressman Jon Porter
--  Congressman Dean Heller
--  Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons
--  State Senator Barbara Cegavske on behalf of the Nevada Legislature
--  Commissioner Rory Reid on behalf of Clark County
--  Councilwoman Lois Tarkanian on behalf of the City of Las Vegas
    

Dr. Frei's appointment is the first of several planned industry screening chairs to be named by NEDAB. NEDAB is actively seeking screening committee chairs in the following industries:

--  Banking & Finance
--  Business Services
--  Construction, Property & Real Estate
--  Energy
--  Consumer Goods
--  Engineering
--  Industrial Equipment & Machinery
--  Media
--  Natural Resources
--  Retailing
--  Technology
--  Telecommunications
--  Tourism, Entertainment & Hospitality
--  Transportation
--  Utilities
    

"The industry chairs are an essential part of our strategy to support economic development in Nevada," said NEDAB spokesperson Robert Uithoven. "We feel that direct outreach into these industries and review of companies by qualified industry experts like Dr. Frei is the best way to find companies that can benefit from participation in the capital markets and drive economic development through their growth."

"I'm pleased to be undertaking this initiative," said Dr. Frei. "I'd like to extend an invitation to the local research institutions and other innovators in the fields of biotechnology, health care, medical equipment, pharmaceuticals and other life sciences to contact NEDAB and connect with me so that we may discuss how we may be able to assist you in bringing these worthy technologies to a larger market. Through participation in the capital markets, companies can raise funds and increase their market visibility."

About Emil Frei III, MD

Dr. Emil Frei III is one of the world's leading oncologists, a pioneer of chemotherapy and a leader in medical research, clinical practice and education.

He has been a major contributor to the successful application of chemotherapy, particularly the use of chemotherapeutic agents in combination for acute leukemia in children and in Hodgkin's disease and chemotherapy following surgical removal of the primary tumor in patients with the more common tumors including breast cancer and osteosarcoma. He produced major therapeutic advances in head and neck cancers. He has been particularly effective in applying the sciences of pharmacology, toxicology, clinical trial design and cytokinetics. Tens of thousands of patients have been cured by these treatments.

His contributions have been acknowledged by numerous awards including the Albert Lasker Award, the Kettering Prize from the General Motors Cancer Research Foundation and most recently the Inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Association for Cancer Research.

Dr. Frei's career in medicine began in 1948 after participating in the country's V-12 program of the Navy. He served in both WW II and the Korean War as a general physician including time on the battlefield. He then served at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the National Cancer Institute division as Chief of Medicine and was principal investigator in the leukemia research program.

He developed a reputation as a great institutional leader, particularly for his ability to secure funding and manage growing organizations. At M. D. Anderson in the late 1960s, he was instrumental in obtaining $1 million a year in operating funds from NIH for the development of cancer research programs. At the Farber Cancer Institute in the 1970s, he helped obtain a gift of $7 million from Charles A. Dana as seed money for partial construction of the institute's new permanent facility, and with the help of Massachusetts Senator Edward W. Brooke III, he was able to obtain the additional $10 million from NIH to complete construction.