Financing to Bring Advanced Medical Diagnostics for Life-Threatening Infections to Market and Establish US Presence

Manchester, UK and Charleston, SC - April 9, 2008 - Myconostica Ltd, a Manchester UK-based medical diagnostic company specializing in rapid and highly specific tests for life-threatening fungal infections, today announces that it has closed an $7.7 million oversubscribed round of financing from a number of leading private equity international investors. The new funds will be used to launch the company's first two products and establish new US headquarters in Charleston, SC.

Over 10 million people are at risk of invasive fungal infections in Europe and North America each year. This number is increasing rapidly with the large growth in patients, whose treatments involve transplants and/or the use of immunosuppressive drugs, leaving them susceptible to fungal infection.

Current diagnostic methods are too slow and non-specific for optimal patient care. Myconostica, which was formed in 2006 as a spin out from the University of Manchester, is developing and commercializing tests based on highly specific genetic "signatures" unique to each disease and allow faster and much more precise diagnosis. These "molecular diagnostics" are simple and can detect multiple fungi in a single process.

The completion of the series C financing was led by Nexus Medical Partners (Boston and Charleston) and also featured Innoven Partenaires (France), the principal international investors joining existing investor Amphion Innovations (AIM: AMP-L) in the round. The capital raised in this round of financing will support the launch of Myconostica's first two products.

The first product is the world's first real-time molecular diagnostic simultaneously testing for both Aspergillus and Pneumocystis. The second product is a fungal DNA extraction system. The diagnostic product, announced at the Trends in Medical Mycology meeting in Turin in October 2007, is CE marked which enables sales in Europe and several other territories. The investment will also allow development of further diagnostic tests in the FXG series targeting other critical fungal infections. Myconostica will be applying to the FDA for regulatory approval to launch the products in the US market.

Following the latest fund raising, Myconostica is also pleased to announce the opening of its US headquarters in Charleston, South Carolina. The new office, Myconostica's first outside of the UK, will be the focus for North American operations and was chosen after careful review of alternative locations.

South Carolina has a growing cluster of medtech and biotech industry. Gregory Zaic, Nexus's senior partner in charge of Nexus's Charleston office, introduced the company to key clinicians at MUSC, thanks to suggestions by MUSC president, Dr. Ray Greenberg. The company is establishing clinical cooperation with members of the MUSC faculty.

The location of Myconostica's US office is being facilitated by the Charleston Digital Corridor's Life Science Initiative (of which Nexus is a supporter). Nexus is one of the four venture capital firms to receive state sponsored funding under the South Carolina Venture Capital Investment Act.

Myconostica welcome:

Dr. Edwin Snape to their Board.
Dr. Snape is co-founder and head of the healthcare practice at Nexus Medical Partners (Boston and Charleston) and has been involved in venture investing for the past 30 years. He brings further valuable commercial and diagnostics sector expertise to the company.

Spencer Kerry as Chief Financial Officer.
Mr. Kerry, a Cambridge law graduate who qualified as an accountant with Deloitte and Touche, has over ten years experience in various senior corporate financial roles most recently as Business Controller at Edinburgh based biotech company Ardana PLC.

Dr. Snape indicated, "I am pleased to accept the Board position at Myconostica. The company represents an excellent example of Nexus bringing into South Carolina an exciting, knowledge-based company. In addition, the $2 million invested by Nexus through its fund, was supplemented by three times that amount of capital via coinvestors."

Professor David Denning, founder of Myconostica, and a world leading authority on fungal disease at the University Hospital of South Manchester, said, "I am very pleased with the exceptional level and quality of international response to this financing opportunity as it allows us to continue the exceptionally rapid progress in the development of our company and our current and future products. The medical need for these products is clear and growing."

Jerel Whittingham, Chief Executive Officer of Myconostica commented, "At such a difficult time in financial markets, Myconostica's success in this oversubscribed fund-raising is a tremendous endorsement of our commercial prospects and we will only succeed commercially by making a real difference medically."

Contact:
Myconostica Ltd
Jerel Whittingham, CEO, (Manchester)
+44 (0)7779 095604 / +44 (0)161 998 7239

Dr. John Thornback, Chief Operations Officer (currently in US)
Mobile/Cell +44 (0) 7968 726573

About Myconostica Ltd.
Myconostica is a medical diagnostics company, spun out of The University of Manchester in 2006 specializing in molecular diagnostic tests for life-threatening invasive fungal infections. Myconostica has its Head Office and laboratories in South Manchester, and has strong links to the University Hospital South Manchester and the Regional Mycology Laboratory, Manchester. Founded by David Denning, Professor of Medicine and Medical Mycology, Myconostica has a strong pipeline of products, the first of which will be launched in 2008. On the web: www.myconostica.co.uk

About Amphion Innovations plc
Amphion builds shareholder using a focused, hands-on company building approach based on decades of experience in both the US and UK. See: www.amphionplc.com for more information. About Nexus Medical Partners Nexus is a leading private equity firm focused on emerging medical companies in North America and Europe. It has offices in Quincy, MA and Charleston, SC. See www.nexusmp.com for more information.

About Innoven Partenaires
Innoven is a leading European venture capital firm, founded in 1997, with 210m pounds under management. See www.innoven-partners.com for more information.