DNage BV (“DNage”), Loders Croklaan BV, through its wholly owned subsidiary Lipid Nutrition BV (“Lipid Nutrition”), BG Medicine Inc (“BG Medicine”) and the Erasmus University Medical Center (“Erasmus MC”) today announced the start of a collaboration to develop new products and biomarkers for type II diabetes, a frequently occurring metabolic disorder most prevalent in elderly people. A large portion of the research phase of the program during the first three years will be covered by a 1 million Euro grant from the Dutch governmental organization Senter Novem, an agency of the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs.

Under the research collaboration parties intend to validate technology owned by DNage and Erasmus MC for testing products to treat type II diabetes. Lipid Nutrition owns proprietary products potentially useful in dietary management of this disease which will be tested under the program. Another important goal of the collaboration is to identify biomarkers, simple screening tests, to be able to diagnose patients in a very early phase thereby improving chances of successful therapy. This part of the program will make use of proprietary knowledge (systems pathology and systems pharmacology) platforms owned by BG Medicine, combined with tools and intellectual property owned by the other parties.

After successful completion of the research phase, parties will enter into a commercialization agreement, the principles of which have been agreed upon already. Lipid Nutrition will obtain royalty-bearing rights for nutritional products, DNage will obtain similar rights for pharmaceutical products and BG Medicine will obtain such rights for biomarkers.

Diabetes mellitus type II is a typical ageing disease which is considered to be the health care challenge of the 21st century. Globally over 180 million people suffer from diabetes as a consequence of ageing and obesity. This number is expected to increase with about 10 million per year.. In the Netherlands, the amount of diabetes patients is ~500,000 and also growing. The WHO and the International Diabetes Foundation predict that the number of diabetics worldwide will more than double to 366 million by 2030.. There is a large need for new approaches in preventing and treating this disease.

DNage and Pharming Group NV (“Pharming”), (Euronext: PHARM), (PHARM.AS) recently announced that Pharming intends to acquire all outstanding shares of DNage. This transaction is expected to be completed in May after which the DNage rights and obligations under the newly announced collaboration will be taken over by Pharming.

Background on DNage BV
DNage is a biopharmaceutical company founded in 2004 as a spin off from the Department of Genetics of the Erasmus Medical Center Rotterdam.. The company was funded through an equity investment of an international syndicate of venture capitalists consisting of Life Sciences Partners (NL) and Inventages (CH). The company’s main scientific founder Prof J. Hoeijmakers is a world-renowned scientist working on DNA repair and genome stability. His team was the first to establish an explicit connection between DNA damage (lack of repair) and the process of aging, a scientific breakthrough.. DNage has acquired exclusive access to this technology and now focuses on developing therapies to reduce the effects of aging, leveraging the unique technologies developed by its founders. On March 24, 2006, DNage announced that it had reached an, in principle, agreement with Pharming under which Pharming will acquire all shares of DNage. Additional information is available on the DNage website: www.dnage.nl.

Background on Lipid Nutrition
Lipid Nutrition innovates and markets scientifically sound lipid ingredients from natural origin, which improve and maintain health and well being. The products, scientific research, marketing, delivery and customer services allow customers to excel in the nutritional supplement and functional food industries. Lipid Nutrition is part of Loders Croklaan, which is a key global producer in the supply of oils and fats. These have been the business on the company for more than 110 years – researching, exploring and developing applications for the food, feed and health industries worldwide. The current product range of Lipid Nutrition comprises: Clarinol™- concentrated CLA for weight management; PinnoThin™- a new breakthrough appetite suppressant; Safflorin™- isomerized safflower oil, helps to protect against cold and flu; Marinol™- fish oil concentrates (EPA/DHA) for heart health and brain development; Membranol™- Phosphatidyl Choline, for liver health and memory improvement; Betapol™- mimics the structure of human milk fat for infant formula. Additional information is available on www.lipidnutrition.com.

Background on BG Medicine Inc
BG medicine was founded in 2000 by scientific leaders in systems biology and venture investors to pioneer commercial applications of molecular systems analysis. The company’s proprietary method of integrating multiple analytical platforms (proteomics, metabolomics, and bioinformatics) allows BG Medicine to quickly identify biomarkers of disease or drug response. Several leading US and European pharmaceutical companies are utilizing BG Medicine’s platform to improve and accelerate insight of molecular drug effects to improve R&D efficiency and yield. Additional information is available on the company’s website: www.bg-medicine.com.

Background on Erasmus University Medical Centre
Erasmus MC, established in the city of Rotterdam, is a university medical center in which (new) knowledge is both being generated and passed on to (future) professionals. This knowledge covers a broad field, ranging from illness to health, and from individual to community healthcare. The knowledge generated and new findings will benefit daily care and treatment of patients. Erasmus MC and the adjacent children’s hospital Erasmus MC-Sophia are located in the city center. The Erasmus MC-Daniel den Hoed Cancer Center is situated in a district on the southern bank of the River Maas. The largest university medical center in the Netherlands, Erasmus MC creates special opportunities for research, education and patient care in the Netherlands. Its over 10,000 employees make every effort to this end. Additional information is available on www.erasmusmc.nl.