BioWest 2007 Organizers Seek The Best And Brightest Of the Rocky Mountain Region’s Bioscience Start-Ups For The Venture Showcase Competition

Denver, CO – BioWest, The Rocky Mountain Region’s Premier Bioscience Conference and Expo, is again looking for the best bioscience start-ups in the region as candidates for the $10,000 Faegre & Benson Venture Showcase Award. Six companies will be chosen to present at the Showcase in December, which will be judged by a panel of national venture capitalists. Deadline for entry is September 28, 2007.

Are you an emerging biotechnology or medical device company in the Rocky Mountain region with a stellar business plan you’d like to present to a panel of national venture capitalists? “If so,” says Christine Shapard, Deputy Director, Colorado BioScience Association, “The organizers of BioWest 2007 want you to submit applications and business plans for the Venture Showcase being held December 7, 2007, at the Grand Hyatt of Denver.”

Six companies will be chosen to present at this year’s Showcase which will be judged by a distinguished panel of national venture capitalists. Each competing company will have 15 minutes to present their technologies and business plans to the judges.

The most compelling presentation will be awarded the $10,000 Faegre & Benson Venture Showcase Award during the Colorado BioScience Association Annual Awards Luncheon on December 7. This is the third year Faegre & Benson has sponsored the cash award for the contest. “We are thrilled to sponsor the Venture Showcase Award at BioWest,” said Rex O’Neal, co-chair of the emerging companies practice at Faegre & Benson. “Colorado is experiencing an unprecedented level of new company formation in the life sciences market. The Venture Showcase program draws attention to young Colorado companies that experience has shown will have profound impacts on our health, communities and economy.”

According to Dr. Richard Duke, President and CEO of Apoplogic and 2006 Faegre & Benson Venture Showcase award winner, “I was happily surprised to hear ApopLogic called as the winner of the award. It validated much of what the Founding Scientists and I had been doing and it was immensely gratifying to see our work acknowledged amongst such a select group of presenting companies.” Continued Duke, “We received some great press as a result of winning and this has proven to be quite useful in our fundraising efforts.”

Applications for the Venture Showcase competition may be downloaded from the website http://www.biowestconference.com. Completed forms must be submitted by September 28, 2007, to Leah Kientz, lkientz@cobioscience.com.

About Colorado BioScience Association

CBSA is a not-for-profit corporation providing services and support for Colorado's growing biosciences industry. With more than 380 members, CBSA actively works to promote the growth of the industry by working for a better business environment, grow the state's biotech workforce, fight for policies that support a strong bioscience industry in the state and speak with a single voice on behalf of the industry. For more information, visit http://www.cobioscience.com.

About Faegre & Benson LLP

Faegre & Benson LLP is a full-service law firm with offices in Denver, Boulder, Minneapolis, Des Moines, London, Frankfurt and Shanghai, with more than 100 attorneys in Colorado and more than 475 worldwide. Faegre & Benson is proud to support the Colorado and national bioscience industry with services in corporate law, intellectual property, labor and employment, financial transactions and a wide range of other legal services. For more information, visit http://www.faegre.com.

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Contacts:

Christine Shapard, Deputy Director, Colorado BioScience Association http://www.cobioscience.com – 303-592-4089 or cshapard@cobioscience.com

Maggie Chamberlin Holben, APR, Absolutely Public Relations http://www.absolutelypr.com – 303-984-9801, maggie@absolutelypr.com