Medicago Inc., today announced it has made a significant breakthrough
by using its proprietary expression system to produce a vaccine candidate
for H5N1 Avian Influenza in highly immunogenic particles called Virus-Like
Particles ("VLPs"). VLPs have significant advantages over conventional
vaccines as they are known to enhance immunity and therefore increase
protection against disease.
These particles are similar to the virus from which they were derived
from; however they lack viral nucleic acid, which results in the best
compromise between safety (not infectious) and efficacy (highly
immunogenic).

"Our transient expression system which produces recombinant vaccine
antigens in the cells of non-transgenic plants has demonstrated its
efficiency and medical potential by successfully producing the H5N1 Avian
Influenza vaccine candidate in VLPs," said Dr. Louis Vezina, Chief
Scientific Officer of Medicago.

"This is an excellent result and a major milestone for Medicago," said
Andy Sheldon, President and Chief Executive Officer of Medicago. "VLPs offer
a promising avenue for the development of effective vaccines for diseases
such as the constantly evolving H5N1 Avian Influenza. Our unique ability to
rapidly deliver vaccines that can protect against the multiple variations of
viruses will, in our opinion, give our technology a critical advantage over
traditional egg-based and cell culture technologies. Using our proprietary
plant-based technology, we believe we now have the ability to deliver a VLP
vaccine for testing a month after the identification and reception of
genetic sequences from the pandemic strain."

Medicago has initiated preclinical studies with its proprietary VLP
against H5N1 Avian Influenza virus and is now accumulating data. It is
expected results from this first study will be published in the coming
weeks.

About Medicago

Medicago is a biotechnology company focused on the development,
production and commercialization of vaccines and therapeutic protein-based
biopharmaceuticals using a proprietary manufacturing system developed from
its expertise in the genetic engineering of plants. Medicago's Proficia
technology offers speed, flexibility and cost advantages that can greatly
improve the accessibility of today's emerging vaccines and
biopharmaceuticals for both partners and patients. The Company is developing
its own proprietary pipeline of vaccines and also has established
collaboration agreements notably with Acambis PLC (LSE: ACM,
www.acambis.com) for the development of several products.

Forward looking statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements which reflect
the Company's current expectations regarding future events. The
forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results
could differ materially from those projected herein. The Company disclaims
any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

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