Market update on CBI's planned acquisition of Shanghai-based GL-Biochem

Commonwealth Biotechnologies, Inc. (“CBI”) (CBTE.OB) is pleased to provide this market update about its planned acquisition of Shanghai-based GL-Biochem and its associated businesses (collectively the “GL Group”), one of the largest global suppliers of research-grade peptide products and peptide reagents. On completion of the transaction, CBI believes it will be the largest supplier of pre-clinical peptide reagents and custom peptide synthesis services in the world. The Company will be comprised of (i) the GL Group in China, (ii) Mimotopes Pty Ltd in Australia and (iii) assets in Richmond, Virginia. In addition to the GL Group, CBI will continue to own and operate Mimotopes Pty Ltd, based in Melbourne, Australia, an industry leader in the peptide and discovery chemistry sector.

CBI-GL: The Peptide Company

CBI and GL Biochem will cater for the outsourcing requirements of universities, research institutes, and pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies for reagents as well as research and development services. Large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies typically have some capabilities in-house but choose to outsource much of their research and development work to specialist providers such as GL Biochem. Pharmaceutical companies are now unable to generate the large number of necessary candidate compounds in-house and this has led to an increasing trend for outsourcing of drug discovery research. The worldwide market for custom peptides is projected to grow at an annual average rate of 11.9%, valuing the market at up to $1B in 2010.

In recent years, GL Biochem has achieved cost leadership in the research grade custom peptide industry through exploiting its scale of production, cumulative experience, competitive labor costs and the manufacture of its own raw materials. This production cost advantage has allowed GL Biochem to price its products and services below other major manufacturers and, therefore, establish a prominent position in the pre-clinical custom peptide and reagent markets. GL Biochem sells a portion of its custom peptides and reagent products directly to the public but also generates significant revenues through an original equipment manufacturer (“OEM”) strategy, whereby peptides or reagents produced by GL Biochem are sold to peptide or chemical companies in the West and retailed under the Western company's brand name.

Products and Services

CBI and GL Biochem will develop, manufacture, market, and distribute peptides, peptide reagents and related services for the life-science sector. The Company’s combined offerings will include:

• Research-grade peptides
• Peptide libraries
• Catalogue peptides
• Peptide reagents
• Monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies.

Transaction Progress

On December 28, 2009 CBI entered into a revised and binding definitive share purchase agreement to acquire the parent of Shanghai-based GL Biochem and its associated businesses (collectively the “GL Group”). Under the revised agreement, CBI will receive all of the stock of the GL Group’s holding company, Wise Century Group Limited, from its current shareholder, and will issue to that shareholder shares of CBI’s common stock equal to 78% of its then-outstanding shares, on a fully diluted basis. Closing is expected to occur promptly after CBI obtains shareholder approval for the transaction. A preliminary proxy statement was filed with SEC on February 2, 2010 and comments received on March 2. The company is currently addressing those comments and expects to submit a revised proxy in early April with a target of mid-Q2 for a shareholder vote.

SOURCE Commonwealth Biotechnologies, Inc.