For Immediate Release

SEMBIOSYS GENETICS INC. RAISES $16.5 MILLION IN PRIVATE FINANCING

Funds to be used for Development of Molecular Farming and Cosmeceutical Businesses

October 20, 2000

CALGARY, Canada - SemBioSys Genetics Inc., a leader in developing new technologies for the manufacture of recombinant proteins and oil body-based products today announced the completion of a $16,560,000 CDN private placement of Series A preferred stock. The financing was led by San Francisco, California, based Bay City Capital LLC through its North American Nutrition & Agribusiness Fund. Other participants in the round include Ventures West, the Business Development Bank of Canada and Royal Bank Capital Partners.

"We are committed to enabling the commercialization of the new protein products for the health care industry that are being generated by the genomics revolution," said Andrew Baum, President and Chief Executive Officer of SemBioSys. "This financing validates our science and establishes SemBioSys as one of the preeminent companies in molecular farming. These funds will allow us to aggressively develop SemBioSys' ability to service the pharmaceutical and cosmeceutical markets."

SemBioSys' proprietary oil body/oleosin technology platform is based on genetically engineering oilseeds to produce high value proteins for the pharmaceutical, personal care and food industries. The proteins are attached to oil bodies, a liposome-like organelle found in oilseeds. Seed oil bodies are readily separated to yield highly enriched protein fractions for cost effective purification of the protein. By addressing purification as well as bulk production costs, SemBioSys' oleosin technology has the potential to transform the economics of purified protein production. In addition, the oil body/protein assembly can be used directly in those applications where the chemical characteristics of the oil bodies themselves serve to enhance formulation and delivery, such as for some topical applications.

Based on this technology platform, SemBioSys is building two businesses. The Company's Molecular Farming business is focused on the manufacture of high value protein products, primarily for pharmaceutical markets. The personal care/cosmeceutical ingredients business will develop a wide range of efficacious and proprietary cosmeceutical ingredients for personal care consumer products.

"We chose to invest in SemBioSys after a comprehensive evaluation of the molecular farming sector" said Bay City Capital Managing Director Roger Salquist. "Their oil body/oleosin technology platform uniquely positions them to address opportunities in a variety of markets."

Bay City Capital (BCC) is a San Francisco-based private merchant bank that focuses exclusively on the life sciences industry, including the pharmaceutical, biomedical, life science IT, and nutrition and agribusiness sectors. BCC provides investment capital and strategic and transaction advisory services to publicly traded and privately held companies. The company has committed capital of over $350 million under management in three investment funds, BCC Funds I and II, and the North American Nutrition and Agribusiness Fund (NANAF), with plans to expand its funds continuously over time.

SemBioSys is a Calgary based biotechnology company focused on the development of high value protein and oil body based products using its proprietary oil body/oleosin technology. The company, based on technology developed by scientific founder Maurice Moloney, was spun-out of the University of Calgary in 1996. The Company announced that it had executed a multi-year product development with Novartis Agricultural Discovery Institute Inc. in January of this year. Besides the new investors, major shareholders include Dr. Moloney, University Technologies International Inc. and Dow AgroSciences Canada Inc.

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