2000 NEWS

Any statements contained in these releases that relate to future plans, events or performance are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties as identified in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Actual results, events or performance may differ materially. Readers are cautioned not to place undo reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as the date hereof. CBI and any other companies mentioned offer no guarantee that a final partnership will be formed, nor that, if actually formed, such partnership will be successful in enhancing the revenues of either company. CBI and any other companies mentioned undertake no obligation to publicly release the results of any revisions to these forward looking statements that may be made to reflect the events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events. Specifically, there can be no guarantee that the contracts referred to herein will not be prematurely terminated thereby reducing or eliminating any revenues associated with said contracts.

December 13, 2000

Company News

Dr. Russ Wolz has been promoted to Group Leader, Biological Chemistries. Wolz assumes responsibility for all aspects of biochemistry, spectroscopic analysis, protein sequence and amino acid analysis.

Mr. Chris Umberger has been promoted to Lab Specialist Advanced. He continues to work in the mass spectroscopy group where he is helping to develop novel protocols for analysis of target analytes.

Ms. Shannon Greenfield has been promoted to Lab Specialist. Greenfield oversees protein sequence analysis.

Ms. Gabriella Wolz has been promoted to Senior Lab Specialist in biochemistry. Wolz has helped establish biochemistry as a leading platform technology at CBI.

Ms. Bonnie Yanchisin has been promoted to Senior Lab Specialist. Yanchisin has been with the Company since its inception and is responsible for all aspects of amino acid analysis.

Ms. Judy Ellett joins the microbiology group at the Company as a Senior Lab Specialist. Formerly with the Virginia Urology Tissue Bank, Ellett will also participate in QA/QC activities of the Company.

Mr. Chris Lampley joins the Company as Lab Aide. Lampley is a recent gradaute of VCU, Department of Biology.

November 6, 2000

Company News

Dr. Melissa Grella joins CBI as a staff Scientist in bioorganic chemistry. Grella was most recently a post doctoral fellow at the National Cancer Institute in Frederick, MD.

October 19, 2000

Commonwealth Biotechnologies, Inc. and Richter International, Inc., to Co-Market Services and Technologies

Alliance to protect food supply should expand client base for both companies

RICHMOND, VA (October 19, 2000) - Commonwealth Biotechnologies, Inc. (NASDAQ Small Cap Market: CBTE) a contract research organization, and Richter International, Inc., a world leader in food quality and safety research, today announced they have signed a letter of intent to co-market and commercialize their services and technologies. Both companies see an opportunity to apply state-of-the-art microbiological and molecular biological assays to prove the continued safety of the nation's food supply.

"Microbiological safety is the number one concern of the American food consumer," commented Dr. Edward Richter, President of Richter International. "In the past several years there have been serious outbreaks of foodborne disease. These outbreaks have been caused by a variety of microorganisms including bacteria, viruses and protozoa, all of which are detectable today. The key factor is in the understanding of the food diagnostic market and knowing how to apply state-of-the-art biotechnologies."

Commonwealth Biotechnologies, Inc. (CBI) sees its alliance with Richter International as a natural extension of its own microbiological and molecular biology platforms. "This is an outstanding opportunity for us to partner with a company whose expertise in food safety is recognized world-wide. Our ability to develop innovative assay methods perfectly complements Richter's technologies. Together, we have the ability to promulgate industry criteria and to identify new clients for both companies," said Dr. Robert B. Harris, President of CBI.

"We are considered to be experts in novel applications of current scientific methods, " added Tom Reynolds, Senior VP of CBI. "There is a need for the data and assays which will stem from this new program and a critical need to ensure the safety of our foodstuffs for the private, public and military sectors.

According to Dr. Rick Jaffe, Director of Microbiology at CBI, "Very little is known about routine contamination levels in raw or processed foods. To know if there is an abnormal contamination level, one must first determine what are the environmental levels of the many different organisms which are known to be present in foodstuffs."

October 5, 2000

Commonwealth Biotechnologies, Inc. Receives Notice of Issue of Patent for DNA Sequencing Aid

RICHMOND, VA (October 5, 2000) - Commonwealth Biotechnologies, Inc., (NASDAQ Small Cap Exchange; CBTE), a biotechnology research organization, announced today that it has received notice that the Patent for its automated DNA sequencing reagent, AccuTrac® has been issued. The patent protects not only its automated DNA sequencing reagent, AccuTrac® but also the process for which it is used. AccuTrac®, which is used to unequivocally identify individual lanes in a DNA gel, will be especially valuable in sequencing of genomes and other large sequencing projects. The product will minimize the need to manually confirm locations of samples in a gel and will thereby increase the accuracy of the sequencing data generated.

With the intellectual property protected, the company will begin an aggressive campaign to find a global partner to effectively market this product worldwide. "While CBI has carried out a modest marketing effort since the product was introduced, the real value of this product will be best realized by partnering with one or more companies already providing reagents to the industry. The search has already begun." said Richard J. Freer, Chairman of CBI.

"We believe, the ability to maximize the efficiency of sequencing instrumentation has and will continue to have a definite impact on sequencing accuracy and quality assurance. Given the massive amounts of information remaining to be discovered in the genomes of not only humans but also in the large numbers of plants, animals and microbes, we expect this technology will continue to be an important tool in this discovery process." said Thomas R. Reynolds, Senior Vice President of CBI and one of the inventors of the product. "It is important to realize that this technology can be used with nearly all automated DNA sequencers without any hardware or software modifications, which makes it inherently more attractive to the end-user." Reynolds added.

In other recent news, the company has announced record revenues for the 1st and 2nd quarters of 2000, the closing of a $2.6 million private placement, and its intention to expand its service offerings to include management of drug development.

October 2, 2000

Commonwealth Biotechnologies, Inc. Withdraws Offer for Drug Development Company

RICHMOND, VA (October 2, 2000) - Commonwealth Biotechnologies (NASDAQ small cap exchange: CBTE) announced that it has withdrawn its offer to acquire the drug development business of SRA Life Sciences, Inc., and that it intends to develop an in-house drug development group of its own. Drug development comprises consulting and management of the laboratory services required to move a client's drug candidate through the regulatory approval process.

On May 30 of this year, the company announced the signing of a Letter of Intent to acquire this asset from SRA Life Sciences, Inc.

"After extensive negotiations and evaluation of a number of business models, we concluded that it would not be in the company's best interests to pursue this acquisition. However, we remain committed to this as a growth area in the company and will use some of the proceeds from our recent private placement to establish our own in-house drug development group", said Richard J. Freer, Ph.D., Chairman of CBI. "Bottom line, we believe that building the capability internally will have a greater long-term positive impact on the company."

Robert B. Harris, Ph.D., President of CBI, points out that, "We believe that a niche market exists for early stage clinical trial management for biotechnology companies. A large proportion of the biotechnology companies which seek commercialization of a human pharmaceutical do not have the in-house expertise and, therefore, are potential clients. To be able to offer a continuum of pre-clinical Research & Development support into and through the regulatory process should be a very attractive package to our current clients as well as to prospective clients. We want to become known as a resource which can take a client's product from 'concept to clinic.'"

In other recent news, the company has announced record revenues for the 1st and 2nd quarters of 2000, the closing of a $2.6 million private placement, and the establishment of a strategic partnership with Kemp Biotechnologies, Inc. The latter is the latest in a series of such partnerships, which are designed to allow the company to offer broader technology capabilities for its clients.

September 27, 2000

Commonwealth Biotechnologies, Inc. Announces Closing of $2.6 Million Private Placement of Common Stock

RICHMOND, VA (September 27, 2000) - Commonwealth Biotechnologies, Inc., (NASDAQ Small Cap Exchange; CBTE) announced today that it has completed a $2.6 million private placement of common stock and warrants to purchase common stock. The proceeds are to be used to put in place new technologies and capabilities in support of the company's strategy of offering complete, customized project support for its clients.

"These new resources will allow the company to augment and expand our genomics technology base and further enhance our ability to support the increasingly sophisticated technologies required by our clients," said Robert B. Harris, Ph.D., President of CBI. "This will make us an even more attractive company with which to partner on technically challenging projects," added Harris.

"In addition, we are looking to add to our service and consulting capabilities to allow us to expand the business laterally into the area of client regulatory support," added Richard J. Freer, Ph.D., Chairman of CBI. "This is a growth area in our industry and one that CBI should be in," he added.

This private placement is the latest in a string of recent positive announcements. The company has posted record revenues for the first two quarters of 2000. In addition, CBI entered into a strategic alliance with Kemp Biotechnologies, Inc. to offer large scale bioprocessing services. A number of new contracts with public and private organizations have also been signed.

August 31, 2000

Commonwealth Biotechnologies, Inc. and Kemp Biotechnologies, Inc. Sign Letter of Intent

Deal should expand client base for both companies

RICHMOND, VA (August 31, 2000) - Commonwealth Biotechnologies, Inc. (CBI) a contract research organization, and Kemp Biotechnologies, Inc., a contract bioprocessing company, today announced they have signed a letter of intent to enter into a strategic partnership to co-market and commercialize their services and technologies. The companies complement one another with respect to both service offerings and client base.

Commonwealth Biotechnologies, Inc. (NASDAQ Small Cap Market; CBTE) sees an opportunity to expand its service offerings to the area of bioprocessing, specifically in the areas of large-scale cell culture, overexpression, and protein purification. "This is an exceptional opportunity to partner with a company whose expertise complements ours so completely. In addition, the clients which can be referred to each partner through a co-marketing effort are distinct and are expected to expand both companies' client bases," said Dr. Robert B. Harris, President of CBI. "More and more, CBI is being asked to provide these kinds of scale-up services. This partnership is expected to allow us to respond to this growing demand without a capital expenditure and start-up lag time," Harris added.

"We have been looking for a skilled partner who will broaden our technology offerings," said Bing Miller, Director of Business Development at Kemp Biotechnologies. "Partnering with CBI will enable us to offer molecular biology and analytical services to our clients which makes us attractive as a comprehensive facility. These two areas are currently understaffed at Kemp and partnering will help us avoid the large expenditures necessary to put these technologies in place," added Miller

August 30, 2000

Commonwealth Biotechnologies, Inc. Wins $1.3 Million in New Contracts

August 29, 2000

Company News

Dr. Amanda Miller joins CBI as a staff Scientist in biochemistry. Dr. Miller recently completed her post doctoral work at the National Eye Institute where she was awareded an intramural research training award.

Mr. M. Omar Lancaster joins CBI as Lab Aide. Mr. Lancaster was most recently a student at Virginia Tech.

Ms. Virginia Driscoll joins the information technology group at CBI. Ms. Driscoll is currently a student at VCU.

Ms. Tillary Elmore is CBI's new receptionist and was most recently a sales associate in Virginia T's, Petersburg.

June 13, 2000

Company News

Dr. Jian Ben Wang comes to CBI as Lab Specialist, Senior. Dr. Wang holds the MD degree from Harbin Medical Institute, China, and the MS degreed from the Shanxi Medical Institute, China. Dr. Wang was most recently at the Medical College of Virginia and will work in the immunochemistry and cell culture groups at CBI.

Mr. Ryan Lewis joins CBI as Lab Specialist. Lewis was most recently a Lead Microbiologist at Purdue Farms, Bridgewater, VA. He is working in the DNA sequence analysis and microbiology groups at CBI.

Ms. Shannon Greenfield joins the peptide synthesis group at CBI as Lab Technician. She had been working at the Cary Street Veterinary Hospital.

Mr. Clifton Braxton joins CBI as a Lab Aide. He is a recent graduate of Virginia Union University.

Ms. Hannah Sadek joins CBI as Lab Specialist, Advanced. Formerly at the Virginia Institute for Psychiatric and Behavorial Genetics, Sadek also worked as an Outreach Educator at the Science Museum of Virginia. Sadek joins the DNA sequence analysis group at CBI.

Ms. Robyn Wills comes to CBI as a Staff Accountant. Wills was an Account Manager at Carter Printing.

Ms. Michelle Cargill is CBI's new receptionist and was most recently a Sales Associate in Peebles Department Store.

CBI is also training four summer interns. Ms. Amy Goss is enrolled in the biotechnology program at James Madison University. Ms. Christen Short is a rising junior at Clover Hill High School. Mr. Harrison Potter is a June graduate of Clover Hill High School and Ms. Ashley Huguet is a June graduate of the Math and Science Center at Clover Hill High School.

May 30, 2000

Commonwealth Biotechnologies, Inc. Signs Letter of Intent to Acquire Drug Development Business of SRA Life Sciences, Inc.

RICHMOND, VA (May 30, 2000) - Commonwealth Biotechnologies, Inc., (NASDAQ Small Cap Exchange; CBTE) announced today that it has signed a Letter of Intent to acquire the drug development business of SRA Life Sciences, Inc. SRA's drug development component provides strategic project management, regulatory consulting, and outsourcing management of Phase I & II clinical trials for pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients.

The Letter of Intent provides for a 60-day window for Commonwealth Biotechnologies, Inc. (CBI) to evaluate more completely the impact of this acquisition on CBI's core business strategy of providing complete pre-clinical project management. "If this transaction is completed, it could represent an outstanding acquisition for CBI. Most importantly, it would add a completely new service capability allowing us to offer not only pre-clinical R&D project support, but also the ability to help our clients move their products through the regulatory agencies and into the marketplace," said Richard J. Freer, Ph.D., Chairman of CBI. "CBI currently has a base of over 1200 clients, many of whom could use this service," Freer added.

This acquisition would also make it possible for CBI to use this new capability to accelerate development of its own intellectual properties, especially CBI's patented potential human pharmaceutical, HepArrestTM. HepArrestTM is a compound that neutralizes the anticoagulant effect of heparin, the drug used to prevent blood clotting during many common surgical procedures, including coronary by-pass surgery. As Robert B. Harris, Ph.D., President of CBI points out, "This new in-house expertise would allow us to move HepArrestTM to the next level, which is into the early stage clinical studies. If the drug continues to perform well at that new plateau, its value to CBI will be greatly enhanced." Harris added, "CBI also has other intellectual properties which can benefit from this new capability."

Finally, James H. Brennan, Controller of CBI indicated that, "Preliminary evaluation indicates that the acquisition of the drug development component of SRA's business, would enhance CBI's revenue stream significantly."

April 20, 2000

Commonwealth Biotechnologies, Inc. and Vigen Laboratories, Inc. Announce JointVenture to Develop PCR-Based Viral Detection Assays

RICHMOND, VA (April 20, 2000) - Commonwealth Biotechnologies, Inc., (NASDAQ Small Cap Exchange; CBTE) a biotechnology contract research organization located in Chesterfield, Virginia, and Vigen Laboratories, Inc., a Wisconsin Corporation which specializes in commercialization of anti-viral technologies, announced today that they have agreed to collaborate on a joint venture to develop and commercialize high throughput rapid screening assays for the detection of AIDS and Herpes related viruses. These assays can also be used to test agents that could potentially affect virus replication.

"What started as a pure R&D contract for us on behalf of Vigen has developed into a novel approach for the assay of several viruses associated with numerous human pathologies" explained Dr. Robert B. Harris, President of Commonwealth Biotechnologies, Inc. (CBI). "CBI's strength in genomics and bioinformatics allowed us to conceptualize and then implement real time PCR methods for detection of viruses associated with mononucleosis, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), Multiple Sclerosis (MS), breast cancer, transplant rejection and a host of other maladies and health issues. Discovery of unique primers and probe sequences at CBI will allow Vigen to seek patent protection for these materials and the assays which result from their use."

Dr. Patricia Frank, President and CEO of Vigen, added "It has always been Vigen's intent to find the best scientists to address these very important issues in human medicine. We believe that we have found such a group in CBI. The ability of scientists to identify potential antiviral agents is the first step in the battle to treat these serious viral infections and their most unfortunate sequelae. The potential market for such assays both as a platform for new drug anti-viral screening and in actual human detection of virus infection is significant."

Under the terms of the agreement, CBI will assume an equity position in a wholly-owned subsidiary of Vigen whose purpose will be to bring viral diagnostic assays to the marketplace. At present, it is envisioned that the viral assays will be performed at CBI for customers in the pharmaceutical industry while Vigen or the new entity will be the recipient of royalty payments for work that is performed.

April 17, 2000

Commonwealth Biotechnologies, Inc. Announces Record Revenues/Profits

RICHMOND, VA (April 17, 2000) - Commonwealth Biotechnologies, Inc., (NASDAQ Small Cap Exchange; CBTE) today reported that it achieved record revenues during the first quarter of 2000. The company said that its sales were up more than 131% from $512,668 during the first quarter of 1999 to $1,185,881 for the first quarter of 2000.

Net income was $76,676 ($.05 basic and $.04 diluted per share) compared to a net loss during the same period last year of $547,379 or $.33 (basic and diluted) per share. This follows a 60% growth in revenue for all of 1999 compared to 1998, where revenues reached $2,565,132 and $1,604,267, respectively. Both the percentage of revenue growth and total revenues are records for the company.

"The major growth area for the company over the last six to nine months has been in the development of long-term contracts, most notably in the analytical detection area," said James H. Brennan, Controller for Commonwealth Biotechnologies, Inc. "Company management believes this represents a niche which we will look to further exploit," he added.

"While we are obviously pleased with the recent performance of the company, we believe the better news is that our business model of offering a broad technology base and complete project support for our clients is now beginning to perform," said Dr. Robert B. Harris, President.

"Our current distribution of 75% of our business in larger contracts of longer duration is up from 41% of just a year ago. In addition, our client base continues to grow with more than 1,000 work orders processed in 1999 and 325 already processed in the first quarter of 2000. Of the 325 work orders, 38% of the work is from first time clients," added Harris.

April 5, 2000

Company News

Dr. Richard I. Jaffe, formerly of the United States Air Force Clinical Investigation Facility, Travis Air Force Base, joins CBI as Director of Microbiology and Special Government Projects. Dr. Jaffe will oversee CBI's expansion into microbiological services.

Dr. Ed Locke, most recently of the University of Virginia Department of Chemistry, joins CBI as a Scientist. Dr. Locke directs the DNA/RNA/PNA synthesis facility at CBI.

March 15, 2000

Free Access to Human Genome Map Could Have Positive Impact On Commonwealth Biotechnologies, Inc.

RICHMOND, VA (March 15, 2000) - Commonwealth Biotechnologies, Inc., (NASDAQ Small Cap Exchange; CBTE) assured shareholders today that the joint statement made by President Clinton and Great Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair to place in the public domain all publicly supported data on the human genome will not negatively impact the company's ability to reach its financial goals.

Thomas R. Reynolds, Commonwealth Biotechnologies, Inc. (CBI) Senior Vice President and Director of DNA technologies points out, "CBI has and always will be in a position to capitalize on the information generated by the human genome project. Our plan has always been to use both the public and private databases."

Reuters reported that Clinton and Blair stressed that inventions, which built on the information, should be protected by law. According to Commonwealth Biotechnologies, Inc. Chairman, Richard J. Freer, that is why the agreement poses no threat to the value of the genome data being generated by the privately funded biotech industry. "The company believes that the joint announcement, while generating widespread concern among biotech investors, is likely to have little impact on the real value of the genome data being generated by the privately funded biotech industry. The private sector is leading the way in genome sciences and, we believe, will be first to generate the most important data and will be successful in protecting those intellectual properties through the patent process."

"CBI's current business focus on supplying services to the industry and its recently announced plans to expand into genomic and proteomic product development will in no way be diminished by this agreement. We would like to reassure our investors that we fully anticipate that CBI will continue unabated towards its goals of growth and expansion, regardless of the ultimate outcome of the controversy," added Robert B. Harris, President of CBI.

March 8, 2000

Commonwealth Biotechnologies, Inc. Announces Expansion Into Genomics and Proteomics Product Development

RICHMOND, VA (March 8, 2000) - Following the addition of several new platform technologies over the last 12 months and a recent alliance with november A G, Erlangen, Germany, Commonwealth Biotechnologies, Inc., (NASDAQ Small Cap Exchange; CBTE) announced today that it will be expanding its R&D effort into the development of genomic and proteomic based products. Although it already holds patents on two of its own products, Heparrest™ (a potential human pharmaceutical) and AccuTrac™ (a DNA sequencing aid), Commonwealth Biotechnologies' (CBI) major business activity has been that of a contract research organization. In that role, CBI has been providing those same platform technologies and expertise to its clients in the global biotechnology industry.

"This is a natural extension of our current business, which is to provide state-of-the-art technologies and expertise to our clients. CBI has been supporting the product development efforts of its clients since its inception. We will now direct those technologies and expertise to our own product lines," said Robert B. Harris, president of CBI.

Thomas R. Reynolds, Senior Vice President of CBI indicated that CBI's principal focus will be in the areas of genomics-based human, animal, and microbial testing and diagnostics and proteomics for drug discovery. "Those are areas where we have already had demonstrated success both for our clients and in our own Heparrest™ and AccuTrac™ Programs. For example, CBI has several ongoing collaborative human and microbial genome sequencing projects which could form the basis for future products," said Reynolds.

Founded in 1992, CBI is located in Gateway Centre, Chesterfield County at 601 Biotech Drive, 23235 (1-800-735-9224). CBI occupied this 32,000 square foot facility in December 1998 and currently employs a staff of 35 including ten doctoral scientists. CBI provides comprehensive research and development services to more than 1,000 private, government, and academic customers in the global biotechnology industry. For more information, visit CBI on the web at www.cbi-biotech.com.

november A G was founded in 1996 as a biotechnology company focused on research and development in molecular medicine. Based in Erlangen, Germany, november has 55 employees, holds 60 patents, and was recently awarded the Innovationspreis, a national prize awarded for innovative science by the German Wirtschaftsclub.

February 28, 2000

Commonwealth Biotechnologies, Inc. Expands Presence In Pacific Rim With New Licenses

February 21, 2000

Commonwealth Biotechnologies, Inc. and november AG Sign Letter of Intent; Deal Opens New Markets for Both Companies

February 17, 2000

COMMONWEALTH BIOTECHNOLOGIES, INC. RECEIVES NOTICE OF ALLOWANCE FROM US PATENT AND TRADE OFFICE

January 4, 2000

Company News

For other news, see:

• Current News (2002-2003)
• News from 2001
• News from 1999

Updated October 1, 2001