Corey Ian Haim (December 23, 1971 – March 10, 2010) was a Canadian actor, best for his 1980s Hollywood career as a teen idol. Mr. Haim starred or co-starred in a number of movies like Lucas, Murphy’s Romance, The Lost Boys, License to Drive, and Dream a Little Dream. Corey Haim appeard many times alongside his friend Corey Feldman. The two later starred in the hit A&E reality television show called The Two Coreys.

Corey Haim died an untimely death on March 10, 2010.

According to the Examiner, “A state investigation turned up an unauthorized prescription in Corey Haim’s name. According to People.com, the illegal prescription was noticed when investigators ordered drug pads from a San Diego vendor. The prescriptions were filled out by using the stolen identity of doctors. Authorities have described this prescription drug ring as “massive”.

California Attorney General Jerry Brown said that the illegal prescription made out to Corey Haim was for the pain killer OxyContin. The prescription was located through the California computer database that tracks all prescriptions that are filled in the state.”

The Associated Press is also reporting that “California Attorney General Jerry Brown said records of the prescription in the name of the former teen heartthrob were found during an investigation of the ring that illegally obtained prescription pads and used the stolen identities of doctors to fill them out.”

The public is learning of the problem of fake drug prescriptions because of this celebrity’s untimely death and the fact that one of the prescriptions that was part of illegally obtained prescription pads and the stolen identities of physicians. There continues to be calls for changes in the way prescriptions are written that will make it more difficult for fake prescriptions to be obtained by the public.

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The BCBSM Foundation garnered a gold award for the Foundation’s 2008 annual report, Social Responsibility: Driving the Mission, and a silver award for the BCBSM Foundation Web site, bcbsm.com/foundation, which provides info about the BCBSM Foundation, funding criteria, available grants and guidelines for submitting letters of interest.

The 2010 Wilmer Shields Rich Awards will be given at the 61st Annual Conference of the Council on Foundations on Tuesday, April 27 in Denver. The BCBSM Foundation has won 39 awards for Excellence in Communications since 1988.

The Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Foundation has a wonderful strategy for consistently creating exceptional programs and communications when compared to some of the biggest and most prestigious corporate foundations:

– Assemble an exceptional core team that is able to develop programs designed to improve the quality of community care.
– Work with talented and creative graphic artists and superior writers and communicators that can explain what your foundation does and seamlessly communicate and visualize those messages to all interested stakeholders.
– Secure complete support from the corporate CEO and board of directors that are passionate about the work of the foundation.
– Finally, work in an environment and with a company that values and encourages performance excellence at all levels.

The Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Foundation is dedicated to improving the health of Michigan residents by supporting health care research and innovative health programs. The foundation’s grant programs are conducted in Michigan by Michigan-based researchers and nonprofit community health care organizations.

Over the past 25 years, the BCBSM Foundation has contributed approximately $25 million in grants for research and $5 million for community health programs. This funding has resulted in enhancements to quality, patient safety and access to care for the people of Michigan. The foundation also supports efforts to control the rising costs of health care through research, demonstration and evaluation projects.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, a nonprofit organization, provides and administers health benefits to 4.7 million members residing in Michigan in addition to members of Michigan-headquartered groups who reside outside the state. The company offers a broad variety of plans including: Traditional Blue Cross Blue Shield; Blue Preferred®, Community Blue(SM) and Healthy Blue Incentives(SM) PPOs; Blue Care Network HMO; BCN Healthy Blue Living(SM); Flexible Blue(SM) plans compatible with health savings accounts; Medicare Advantage; Part D Prescription Drug plans, and MyBlue(SM) products in the under-age-65 individual market. BCBSM also offers dental, vision and hearing plans. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan and Blue Care Network are nonprofit corporations and independent licensees of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association. For more company information, visit bcbsm.com.

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HealthPass, a partnership between New York City, the New York Business Group on Health, and the health insurance industry, is now offering five of UnitedHealthcare’s Oxford health insurance plans to employers. To qualify, the employers must have two to 50 eligible employees and be based in New York City or the surrounding area, including Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester Rockland, Orange, Putnam, Dutchess, Ulster and Sullivan counties.

Small businesses and their employees in the New York area can enroll right now for health insurance coverage for April 1st effective dates and later. The health plan choices provide variety in plan design, including in-network and out-of-network options, as well as the option of requiring a referral for specialist visits. Routine preventive care and laboratory services will be covered in-network at no charge.

HealthPass New York is a health insurance exchange, founded by the City of New York and The New York Business Group on Health. The mission of HealthPass is to offer coverage to the working uninsured. With multiple carriers and plan options, HealthPass allows small businesses and Sole Proprietors the ability to choose health benefits that fit their needs and budgets.

Small businesses – Choose from over 30 different medical plans from 4 leading carriers – EmblemHealth, GHI, Health Net, and HIP. With over 200,000 doctors, dentists, nurses and other healthcare professionals, HealthPass provides greater access than any single plan. The business must be located in the five boroughs of New York City, Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester, Orange, Putnam or Dutchess counties.

Sole Proprietors – Choose from 4 different Oxford medical plans. These 4 plans allow members access to Oxford’s leading network of over 73,000 physicians. Aside from the array of benefits offered, members also receive the ease of administration through HealthPass. The Sole Proprietor must be located in the five boroughs of New York City, Nassau or Suffolk counties.

“Finding affordable, high-quality health insurance remains a big challenge for thousands of small employers in the metropolitan New York area,” said Vince Ashton, executive director of HealthPass, “Our partnership with UnitedHealthcare demonstrates our shared commitment to helping small businesses find alternative ways to secure affordable health insurance. We are very pleased to offer Oxford health insurance plans.”

“We continue to be impressed with HealthPass and its dedication to helping the uninsured and underinsured find affordable health coverage,” said Bill Golden, CEO, UnitedHealthcare of New York. “We understand the health insurance challenges that small businesses face and look forward to working with HealthPass to increase the number of small business owners who are able to offer health benefits to their employees.”

“The addition of Oxford products to the roster of options available through HealthPass is great news for small employers searching for cost-effective ways to offer health insurance to their workers,” said Laurel Pickering, executive director of the New York Business Group on Health.

UnitedHealthcare, a UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) company, currently serves more than 2.3 million New Yorkers and provides a health care network that includes more than 48,000 physicians and 200 hospitals.

For more information about the Oxford health insurance plans offered through HealthPass, visit www.healthpass.com.

An innovative partnership between the New York Business Group on Health, the City of New York and the health insurance industry, HealthPass provides small businesses with an array of Fortune 500-quality healthcare options through an insurance exchange.

HealthPass enables eligible employees of small businesses to individually choose a healthcare plan that fits their medical needs and budgets. There are more than 25 different coverage options from New York’s leading carriers – EmblemHealth, GHI, HIP Health Plan of New York and Oxford – as well as two dental plans and a bundled product offered through Guardian. With more than 200,000 providers, HealthPass affords greater network access than any single plan.

UnitedHealthcare provides a full spectrum of consumer-oriented health benefits plans and services to individuals, public sector employers and businesses of all sizes, including more than half of the Fortune 100 companies. The company organizes access to quality, affordable health care services on behalf of approximately 25 million individual consumers, contracting directly with more than 600,000 physicians and care professionals and 5,000 hospitals to offer them broad, convenient access to services nationwide. UnitedHealthcare is one the businesses of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) , a diversified Fortune 50 health and well-being company.

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“To give patients the best care possible, healthcare organizations must run efficiently, and real-time wireless communication is a powerful tool for meeting that challenge,” said John Maschenic, director of healthcare enterprise solutions for Verizon Wireless. “Mobile technology puts health information — whether it’s lab results, X-rays, patient medical history or prescription drug information — in the hands of clinicians when it’s needed, and Verizon Wireless proudly provides the nation’s most reliable 3G network to support access to this critical data.”

Maschenic is presenting today at the HIMSS Conference at the “Telehealth and Mobility Solutions for Health Care” session at 3:15 p.m. EST in New Solutions Theater – Room 959.

Verizon Wireless offers customers in the healthcare industry an extensive portfolio of products and services that run on the company’s reliable Evolution-Data Optimized (EV-DO) Revision A (Rev. A) network, including:

— PatientKeeper® – PatientKeeper’s mobility products support all
operations systems while connecting physicians to patient information
across inpatient and ambulatory environments. With PatientKeeper,
physicians save time, increase revenue and enhance patient care.
PatientKeeper enables physicians to interactively manage patient
information across multiple locations, view clinical results, enter
charges, sign out patients, and enter and order prescriptions, all
from their smartphones.
— EPOCRATES Rx for Android and Palm OS – Doctors, nurses and other
healthcare professionals who use Verizon Wireless smartphones with the
Android(TM) OS, such as DROID by Motorola or DROID ERIS(TM) by HTC, or
devices that run on the Palm® webOS(TM) platform, including Palm®
Pre(TM) Plus and Palm Pixi(TM) Plus, can leverage this mobile drug
reference application to get prescription and safety information for
thousands of brand name and generic drugs instantly. The application
also offers Pill ID, which helps identify a drug based on physical
characteristics such as color, shape and imprint code; table and
calculators; and drug interaction information.
— Medicine Central and Evidence Central – Unbound Medicine offers two
applications for Verizon Wireless Android, BlackBerry®, Palm and
Windows Mobile® devices.
— Medicine Central is a collection of disease, drug and test
information with literature tracking for mobile devices. The
application features The 5-Minute Clinical Consult, A to Z Drug
Facts, Drug Interaction Facts, Pocket Guide to Diagnostic Tests,
and MEDLINE Journals.
— Evidence Central supports effective evidence-based medical
practice by integrating analysis with the latest research.
Clinicians can access Evidence-Based Medicine Guidelines, Cochrane
Abstracts, EE+ POEMs (Patient-Oriented Evidence that Matters from
Essential Evidence Plus), and MEDLINE Journals anytime, anywhere.
— Motion Computing® C5 Mobile Clinical Assistant (MCA) – Running on
Windows® 7, the C5 is a hospital-grade device proven to enhance
clinician satisfaction, improve point of care documentation, increase
clinician productivity, and improve clinical documentation accuracy.
The MCA is now available with embedded Verizon Wireless Mobile
Broadband capability to stay connected to hospital information and the
Internet.

Nation’s Most Reliable Wireless 3G Network

Verizon Wireless’ 3G data network provides businesses in more locations than any other wireless carrier the ability to browse the Web, stay connected to critical information, and rapidly share files. Verizon Wireless aggressively invests billions of dollars in its network every year; in 2009 alone, Verizon Wireless invested $7 billion in its network to increase coverage and capacity and to add new services.

The company plans to launch its 4G Long Term Evolution (LTE) wireless network in 25 to 30 markets later this year. LTE will support the future of mobile healthcare technology by offering significantly greater network capacity and speed than today’s most advanced 3G coverage and will support innovative solutions that will further enhance the quality of patient care and the efficiency of hospital business operations.

For more information about Verizon Wireless products for clinicians and healthcare organizations, visit www.verizonwireless.com/healthcare or call 1-800-VZW-4BIZ to speak with a Business Sales Representative.

About Verizon Wireless

Verizon Wireless operates the nation’s most reliable and largest wireless voice and 3G data network, serving more than 91 million customers. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with 83,000 employees nationwide, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) and Vodafone (Nasdaq and LSE: VOD). For more information, visit www.verizonwireless.com. To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia.

Source: Verizon Wireless

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“Our NS5A inhibitor program is well positioned to generate a pipeline of clinical candidates, and we are excited about further characterization of our various leads with distinct structural diversity,” said Yat Sun Or, Ph.D., Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer of Enanta Pharmaceuticals. “The NS5A program represents an important asset in our portfolio of HCV inhibitors, which additionally includes protease, polymerase, and cyclophilin inhibitors. We look forward to exploring combinations and potential synergies of EDP-239 with our broader HCV portfolio.”

Enanta’s NS5A program and intellectual property estate in the HCV field were derived from its internal drug discovery efforts. Enanta anticipates progressing into IND-enabling preclinical studies for EDP-239 with the goal of initiating clinical trials in 2011.

About Hepatitis C Virus

Hepatitis C is a liver disease affecting over 170 million people worldwide. The virus is spread through direct contact with the blood of an infected person. Hepatitis C increases a person’s risk of developing chronic liver disease, cirrhosis, liver cancer and death. Liver disease associated with HCV infection is growing rapidly, and current therapies only provide sustained benefit in about half of patients with the genotype1 form of the virus. Specifically targeted antiviral therapies for HCV, such as NS3/4a protease and NS5A inhibitors, may have the potential to increase the proportion of patients in whom the virus can be eradicated.

About Enanta

Enanta Pharmaceuticals is a research and development company that uses its novel chemistry approach and drug discovery capabilities to create best in class small molecule drugs in the infectious disease field. Enanta is developing novel protease, NS5A, polymerase, and cyclophilin-based inhibitors targeted against the Hepatitis C virus (HCV). Additionally, the Company has created a new class of macrolide antibiotics, called Bicyclolides, which overcomes bacterial resistance. Antibacterial focus areas include superbugs, respiratory tract infections, and intravenous and oral treatments for hospital and community MRSA. Enanta is a privately held company headquartered in Watertown, MA. Enanta’s news releases and other information are available on the company’s web site at www.enanta.com.

Source: Enanta Pharmaceuticals

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ABT-450 was discovered as part of an alliance between Abbott and Enanta. ABT-333 and ABT-072, both discovered internally at Abbott, are part of the company’s ongoing non-nucleoside polymerase inhibitor development program.

“Our scientists are working diligently to advance the treatment of Hepatitis C, which is a serious global epidemic that affects 170 million people worldwide,” said John M. Leonard, M.D., senior vice president, Global Pharmaceutical Research and Development, Abbott. “As a global leader in the development of antiviral therapies, we are focused on building an industry-leading pipeline for the treatment of HCV and are well-positioned to explore multiple potent and new classes of HCV therapies that hold promise for patients.”

While significant progress has been made in HCV treatment, there are limitations in efficacy and safety for the current standard of care. An extended duration of treatment (24 or 48 week course of a combination of pegylated alpha interferon and ribavirin) still results in a less-than 50% cure rate in those with HCV genotype 1. Additionally, the side-effects from interferon therapy can be highly problematic, often including depression and flu-like symptoms.

“Initiating Phase 2 is a key step in advancing our HCV collaboration,” said Jay R. Luly, Ph.D., president and CEO of Enanta Pharmaceuticals. “We look forward to working with Abbott to advance our shared vision of creating breakthrough treatments for HCV infection.”

The objectives of the Phase 2 study are to assess the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and antiviral activity of multiple dose strengths of ABT-450 or ABT-333 or ABT-072, each dosed individually in treatment-naïve adults infected with HCV genotype 1, the most common and difficult to treat form of the infection in the developed world. Initial antiviral activity will be evaluated via a 3-day monotherapy period. Subsequently, each antiviral agent will be administered with pegIFN/RBV (SOC) for 12-weeks, followed by treatment with SOC alone for an additional 36-weeks. Participants will then be monitored for sustained virologic response (SVR).

About Hepatitis C Virus

Hepatitis C is a liver disease affecting over 170 million people worldwide. The virus is spread through direct contact with the blood of an infected person. Hepatitis C increases a person’s risk of developing chronic liver disease, cirrhosis, liver cancer and death. Liver disease associated with HCV infection is growing rapidly, and current therapies only provide sustained benefit in about half of patients with the genotype 1 form of the virus. Specifically targeted antiviral therapies for HCV, such as NS3/4a protease inhibitors and non-nucleoside polymerase inhibitors, may have the potential to increase the proportion of patients in whom the virus can be eradicated.

About Enanta

Enanta Pharmaceuticals is a research and development company that uses its novel chemistry approach and drug discovery capabilities to create best in class small molecule drugs in the infectious disease field. Enanta is developing novel protease, NS5A, polymerase, and cyclophilin-based inhibitors targeted against the Hepatitis C virus (HCV). Additionally, the Company has created a new class of macrolide antibiotics, called Bicyclolides, which overcomes bacterial resistance. Antibacterial focus areas include superbugs, respiratory tract infections, and intravenous and oral treatments for hospital and community MRSA. Enanta is a privately held company headquartered in Watertown, MA. Enanta’s news releases and other information are available on the company’s web site at www.enanta.com.

About Abbott

Abbott is a global, broad-based health care company devoted to the discovery, development, manufacture and marketing of pharmaceuticals and medical products, including nutritionals, devices and diagnostics. The company employs approximately 83,000 people and markets its products in more than 130 countries.

Abbott’s news releases and other information are available on the company’s web site at www.abbott.com.

Source: Abbott

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HealthPass, a partnership between the New York Business Group on Health, New York City and the health insurance industry, is offering five of UnitedHealthcare’s Oxford health insurance plans to employers with two to 50 eligible employees. Eligible employers must be based in New York City or the surrounding area, including Nassau, Suffolk, Westchester Rockland, Orange, Putnam, Dutchess, Ulster and Sullivan counties.

Small businesses and their employees can enroll immediately for coverage for April 1st effective dates and later. The health plan choices provide variety in plan design, including in-network and out-of-network options, as well as the option of requiring a referral for specialist visits. Routine preventive care and laboratory services will be covered in-network at no charge.

“Finding affordable, high-quality health insurance remains a big challenge for thousands of small employers in the metropolitan New York area,” said Vince Ashton, executive director of HealthPass, “Our partnership with UnitedHealthcare demonstrates our shared commitment to helping small businesses find alternative ways to secure affordable health insurance. We are very pleased to offer Oxford health insurance plans.”

“We continue to be impressed with HealthPass and its dedication to helping the uninsured and underinsured find affordable health coverage,” said Bill Golden, CEO, UnitedHealthcare of New York. “We understand the health insurance challenges that small businesses face and look forward to working with HealthPass to increase the number of small business owners who are able to offer health benefits to their employees.”

“The addition of Oxford products to the roster of options available through HealthPass is great news for small employers searching for cost-effective ways to offer health insurance to their workers,” said Laurel Pickering, executive director of the New York Business Group on Health.

UnitedHealthcare, a UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) company, currently serves more than 2.3 million New Yorkers and provides a health care network that includes more than 48,000 physicians and 200 hospitals.

For more information about the Oxford health insurance plans offered through HealthPass, visit www.healthpass.com.

About HealthPass

An innovative partnership between the New York Business Group on Health, the City of New York and the health insurance industry, HealthPass provides small businesses with an array of Fortune 500-quality healthcare options through an insurance exchange.

HealthPass enables eligible employees of small businesses to individually choose a healthcare plan that fits their medical needs and budgets. There are more than 25 different coverage options from New York’s leading carriers – EmblemHealth, GHI, HIP Health Plan of New York and Oxford – as well as two dental plans and a bundled product offered through Guardian. With more than 200,000 providers, HealthPass affords greater network access than any single plan. For more information, please visit www.healthpass.com

About UnitedHealthcare

UnitedHealthcare (www.unitedhealthcare.com) provides a full spectrum of consumer-oriented health benefits plans and services to individuals, public sector employers and businesses of all sizes, including more than half of the Fortune 100 companies. The company organizes access to quality, affordable health care services on behalf of approximately 25 million individual consumers, contracting directly with more than 600,000 physicians and care professionals and 5,000 hospitals to offer them broad, convenient access to services nationwide. UnitedHealthcare is one the businesses of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) , a diversified Fortune 50 health and well-being company.

Source: HealthPass

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- Trades on Toronto Stock Exchange – (TSX: ISA)

Isotechnika Pharma Inc. (TSX: ISA) today announced that the European Medicines Agency (EMA) has validated the Marketing Authorization Application (MAA) filed by its partner, Lux Biosciences, Inc., for voclosporin. Following validation of the MAA, the dossier is distributed to members of the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) for formal review, which is expected to take one year.

In this application, voclosporin, a next generation calcineurin inhibitor, is proposed for the treatment of non-infectious uveitis involving the posterior segment of the eye, a leading cause of vision loss and long-term disability and the fourth leading cause of legal blindness in the industrialized world.

“With the EMA acceptance of the dossier we now expect the review process to be completed by the end of February 2011. With approval, this will result in a milestone payment of $3.52 million USD and royalty payments on sales from our partner, Lux,” said Dr. Robert Foster, President and CEO of Isotechnika Pharma. “We also expect to hear about the acceptance of our dossier by the FDA by April. If, based on its orphan drug status and the request of Lux, it is granted priority review, the objective of the FDA is to complete the review within six months. With approval, we would receive another milestone of $7.04 million USD followed by royalty payments.”

About Isotechnika Pharma

————————

Edmonton-based Isotechnika Pharma Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of novel immunosuppressive therapeutics that are designed to offer advantages over other currently available treatments. There is a significant unmet medical need in the treatment of both solid organ transplantation and autoimmune disease. It is estimated that the market potential will be US$2.95 billion annually in sales for calcineurin inhibitors such as voclosporin in 2010.

Voclosporin, Isotechnika Pharma’s lead drug candidate, is a next generation calcineurin inhibitor. It has completed a Phase 2b study for the prevention of kidney rejection following transplantation and a Phase 3 European/Canadian trial for the treatment of moderate to severe psoriasis. Our partner, Lux Biosciences, has filed dossiers for approval of voclosporin in the U.S. and in Europe for the treatment of non-infectious uveitis. In the U.S., Lux has been granted Fast Track designation. Lux Biosciences has also conducted a Phase 1 trial using their proprietary voclosporin ophthalmic solution (LX214) as a candidate for dry eye syndrome.

Isotechnika Pharma Inc. is a publicly traded company on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol “ISA”. More information on Isotechnika Pharma can be found at http://www.isotechnika.com or http://www.SEDAR.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

————————–

This News Release contains forward-looking statements which may not be based on historical fact. Such forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, events or developments to be materially different from any future results, events or developments expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, among others, the Company’s belief as to the potential of its products, its ability to protect its intellectual property rights, securing and maintaining corporate alliances and partnerships, the need for additional capital and the effect of capital market conditions and other factors on capital availability, the ability to economically manufacture its products, the potential of its products, the success and timely completion of clinical studies and trials, and the Company’s and its partners’ ability to successfully obtain regulatory approvals and commercialize voclosporin. Investors should consult the Company’s quarterly and annual filings for additional information on risks and uncertainties relating to the forward-looking statements. These factors should be considered carefully and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements.

Source: Isotechnika Pharma Inc.

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“I am pleased to welcome Bill to Catalyst,” said Dr. Usman. “His depth of experience in all stages of a corporation’s life cycle, in particular with clinical-stage and commercial companies, will be a tremendous asset as Catalyst advances its protease therapeutics into preclinical and clinical studies. From his prior roles as a CFO and an investment banker, Bill brings a successful track record of creating shareholder value through numerous partnering, initial public offering, structured finance, and M&A transactions that will be relevant to Catalyst going forward.”

“I am excited by the opportunity to join the team at Catalyst,” said Mr. Dawson. “With a productive platform for the discovery of valuable therapeutics, a deep pipeline of novel compounds, and partnerships with two preeminent multi-national pharmaceutical companies, Catalyst has an exceptionally strong balance sheet and is well positioned for future success.”

Previously, Mr. Dawson served from 2004 through 2009 as Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer of Cerus Corporation, a commercial-stage blood safety products company. From 2002 until 2004, Mr. Dawson was Vice President, Finance & Operations and Chief Financial Officer of Dynavax Technologies Corporation, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company. From 1998 until 2001, Mr. Dawson was Corporate Senior Vice President, Business Development, for McKesson Corporation, a Fortune 15 pharmaceutical distribution and healthcare services company. He was also acting Chief Financial Officer of iMcKesson, an e-health IT subsidiary of McKesson. Prior to joining McKesson, Mr. Dawson spent 15 years as a senior officer in corporate finance with three investment banking firms and five years in financial management positions with operating companies in the alternate energy and transportation industries. Mr. Dawson earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and an undergraduate degree from Stanford University in Mechanical Engineering. Mr. Dawson serves on the boards of directors of McGrath RentCorp, an equipment finance company, and Wellington Trust Company, a subsidiary of Wellington Management Company LLP, a global private institutional asset management company.

About Catalyst Biosciences

Catalyst Biosciences is developing the next generation of biopharmaceuticals by harnessing the catalytic power of engineered proteases that target proteins underlying diseases. Catalyst’s discovery platform rapidly creates and optimizes tailor-made protease drug candidates that cleave a wide variety of disease targets, either by improving existing protease drugs or by creating new protease drugs, known as Alterase(TM) therapeutics. Catalyst is focusing its product development efforts on drug candidates for hemophilia, non-hemophilic bleeding, and complement-driven diseases, including the prevention of delayed graft function and inflammation. Catalyst has ongoing research, development, and license agreements with Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pfizer Inc. and MedImmune, LLC, the global biologics unit of AstraZeneca plc. Together, these two partnering agreements total up to nearly $700 million in upfront payments, R&D support, and milestone payments, plus royalties on potential future sales. Catalyst is privately held with backing by leading venture firms, including Burrill & Company, Essex Woodlands Health Ventures, HealthCare Ventures, Johnson & Johnson Development Corporation, Morgenthaler Ventures, Novartis BioVentures, RCT BioVentures, and Sofinnova Ventures. For more information, please visit www.catbio.com.

Source: Catalyst Biosciences, Inc.

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Under the terms of the agreement, the NxStage System One and PureFlow(TM) SL dialysate preparation system will be available to dialysis centers throughout the Netherlands exclusively through Dirinco. Dirinco will also make available the System One for use in critical care applications, and has the option to make NxStage Medisystems ButtonHole needles available to its customers in this region.

“We are pleased to announce this new opportunity to provide more patients access to our life-changing products while expanding our international presence,” stated John Mullen, Vice President and General Manager, International, NxStage Medical, Inc. “We look forward to working closely with Dirinco, a company with a long history of successfully introducing new technologies and therapies to the Dutch market.”

“As many dialysis patients in this region seek alternative treatments to in-center dialysis, we believe there is a real opportunity to advance home hemodialysis in the Netherlands,” said Roel Kuiper, Managing Director of Dirinco. “Through our agreement with NxStage, our customers will gain access to this innovative technology and the quality of life and clinical benefits daily therapy with the System One has been reported to offer.”

About Dirinco

The Dutch Dirinco Group, with subsidiaries in Belgium and Switzerland (Citra-Lock), is a company, with innovative products and services mainly in the areas of chronicle and acute hemodialysis. Dirinco is a privately held company, with almost 25 years of experience in production and marketing of healthcare products. Over the years, Dirinco has become an expert in extracorporeal circulation treatment of renal failure. Today the company holds a leading position in the acute renal (CRRT) market in the Netherlands and supplies all Dutch dialysis clinics with several innovative products. Dirinco has strong relationships with nephrologists, intensivists, management, pharmacies and purchase departments of hospital organizations. The company has a direct Benelux sales and service organization and offers its innovations through a network of dedicated distributors to the remaining international markets.

About NxStage Medical

NxStage Medical, Inc. (NASDAQ:NXTM) is a medical device company, headquartered in Lawrence, Massachusetts, USA, that develops, manufactures and markets innovative products for the treatment of End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) and acute kidney failure. For more information on NxStage and its products, please visit NxStage’s website at http://www.nxstage.com/.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements contained in this release that are not clearly historical in nature are forward-looking, and the words “anticipate,” “believe,” “expect,” “estimate,” “plan,” and similar expressions are generally intended to identify forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements as a result of various important factors including Dirinco’s ability to successfully promote, sell and service our products, customer demand for our products in the Netherlands, those that are discussed in NxStage’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2009. NxStage is under no obligation to (and expressly disclaims any such obligation to) update or alter its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

Source: NxStage Medical, Inc.

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