QUEBEC CITY, June 8 /CNW/ - Medicago Inc. (TSX-V: MDG), a biotechnology company focused on developing highly effective and affordable vaccines based on proprietary manufacturing technologies and Virus-Like Particles (VLPs), today announced that it has been awarded $1.77 million in funding by Quebec's Consortium for Drug Discovery ("CQDM"), conditional upon the signing of a research agreement between parties. Medicago will use these funds to develop the VLPExpress, a high throughput platform that will accelerate the Company's discovery and development of new vaccines by rapidly expressing, purifying and testing candidate VLPs. This multidisciplinary project will be carried out in collaboration with SNC-Lavalin Pharma, a division of SNC-Lavalin, Dr. Alain Garnier from Laval University and Dr. Brian Ward from McGill University.

"We are pleased to have been selected by the CQDM for this funding which launches the next phase in the development of our VLP vaccine technology and will ultimately allow us to expand our product pipeline," said Andy Sheldon, President and Chief Executive Officer of Medicago. "VLPs represent one of the most promising approaches for the production of vaccines. There is a need for new cost-effective technological solutions to speed-up and streamline the development of VLP vaccines from early research to clinical testing. By scaling down and automating our current manufacturing system, this new VLPExpress platform will reduce the time and costs of screening antigens and allow us to identify the best candidates to bring forward."

Medicago's VLPExpress platform will identify the best VLP-based antigen presentations for a disease-causing agent within 10 weeks. Each antigen or antigen variants will be rapidly screened for their potential to provide protection. The Company will use a scaled-down transient technology which will offer a rapid and low-cost production system with the capacity to accelerate development of new vaccines. In addition, the use of VLPs for antigen surface display will allow for the full exploitation of the immunogenic potential of the best antigens. The combination of these technologies in the VLPExpress platform will allow researchers to express numerous target proteins of a pathogen to build a library of all possible VLPs in a short timeframe. The best targets will then be characterized, produced and purified for further analysis. By identifying the best antigens early in the process, researchers can save years and millions of dollars in research costs.

About CQDM

CQDM is a not-for-profit organization that responds to the needs of the pharmaceutical industry by contributing to accelerating drug discovery and developing safer, more effective drugs. CQDM's funding is provided by the FRSQ, the MDEIE, the BL-NCE, Pfizer Canada, AstraZeneca Canada and Merck Frosst Canada Ltd.

For more information, visit: www.cqdm.org

About Medicago

Medicago is committed to provide highly effective and affordable vaccines based on proprietary Virus-Like Particle (VLP) and manufacturing technologies. Medicago is developing VLP vaccines to protect against H5N1 pandemic influenza, using a transient expression system which produces recombinant vaccine antigens in non-transgenic plants. This technology has potential to offer advantages of speed and cost over competitive technologies. It could deliver a vaccine for testing in about a month after the identification and reception of genetic sequences from a pandemic strain. This production time frame has the potential to allow vaccination of the population before the first wave of a pandemic strikes and to supply large volumes of vaccine antigens to the world market. Additional information about Medicago is available at www.medicago.com.

Forward Looking Statements

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

    <<
    Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as
    that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts
    responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release
    >>

%SEDAR: 00023641EF