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Pervasis Therapeutics Closes $12 Million Series Led by Highland Capital Partners

Cell Therapy Company Developing Next-Generation Combination Treatments

Cambridge, MA – September 30, 2005 – Pervasis Therapeutics, Inc., a biotechnology company founded to develop the next generation of medical therapies that integrate biomaterials with cells and drugs, announced today that it has secured $12 million in Series B financing. Highland Capital Partners led the round, which also included founding investors, Polaris Venture Partners and Flagship Venture Partners. The company’s founders include MIT Professors and researchers Elazer Edelman and Robert Langer, Joseph Vacanti, and Helen Nugent.

The financing will be used to continue clinical development of the company’s first product focused on treating vascular diseases. In conjunction with the financing, Bob Higgins, Managing General Partner at Highland Capital Partners, will join the company’s Board of Directors.

“We are excited to work with members of the Pervasis founding team once again as the company prepares to bring its innovative therapies to market,” said Bob Higgins, Managing General Partner at Highland Capital Partners. “With a distinguished team onboard and significant research complete, Pervasis will continue clinical trials in patients with serious vascular diseases.”

“A true team effort between the initial founders and the founding investors laid the building blocks for Pervasis to advance its core technology and set the company’s direction,” said Steve Bollinger, President of Pervasis Therapeutics. “This funding will support our ongoing efforts to translate regenerative therapies into marketable applications that tackle the significant and growing population of patients suffering from vascular disease. With expertise in therapeutics, cardiovascular devices, and hemodialysis, Highland is a great addition to our team and represents a notable validation of our progress to date.”

Highland is the latest addition to a rapidly growing team at Pervasis including significant new additions to the company’s management team, board, and advisory group. (See separate release “Pervasis Therapeutics Expands Team”)

About Pervasis Therapeutics

Based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Pervasis Therapeutics is focused on creating biologically active vascular technologies to treat significant unmet needs in cardiovascular disease. The company’s products represent the next generation of combination therapies by bringing together advances in cell biology, drug delivery, and biomaterials. Pervasis’ investors include Flagship Ventures, Highland Capital Partners, and Polaris Venture Partners. The company was founded by Elazer Edelman, Robert Langer, Joseph Vacanti, and Helen Nugent, and is based on research funded in part by the Deshpande Center for Innovation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

About Highland Capital Partners

Highland Capital Partners was founded with the mission of helping great people build great companies. Since its inception in 1988, the firm has taken a sector-focused and stage- diversified approach to investing in exceptional information technology, communications, and healthcare companies. With over $1.8 billion of committed capital, Highland has invested in and worked to create such firms as Ask Jeeves, Aspect Medical Systems, Avid Technology, Be Free, CheckFree, Conor Medsystems, Curis, EXACT Sciences, GenVec, Lycos, MapQuest, Mitotix, Ocular Networks, Odyssey Healthcare, Renal Treatment Centers, Sybase, Telica, US Labs, and WebLine Communications. For more information, visit Highland's web site at www.hcp.com.

About Flagship Ventures

Flagship Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm focused on creating, financing, and building innovative companies in the Life Science and Technology sectors. Headquartered in Cambridge, MA, Flagship Ventures was founded in 1999 and manages $700 million in capital. Prior to its founding, Flagship's principals were involved as founders or investors in over 100 firms including: Adolor, AltaVista, Anesta, Antigenics, Aspect Medical, Astral Point, Celera Genomics, ChemGenics Pharmaceuticals, Color Kinetics, Chantry Networks, Cytyc, DataSage, Exact Sciences, IDEXX, PerSeptive Biosystems, Somatogen, Telecorp PCS, and TripAdvisor. For more information, visit www.flagshipventures.com.

About Polaris Venture Partners

Polaris Venture Partners invests in seed and early stage companies and in growth equity companies with substantial operating income. As the lead or co-lead investor in virtually all of their portfolio companies, Polaris takes an active long-term role in helping them develop into successful businesses. Polaris has over $2 billion under management and current investments in more than 60 companies. Polaris-backed companies include: Advanced Inhalation Research (AIRTM); Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM); Allaire Corporation; Aspect Medical Systems (NASDAQ: ASPM); Centra Software (NASDAQ: CTRA); deCODE genetics (NASDAQ: DCGN); and SolidWorks (sold to Dassault Systémes). The company has offices in Boston and Seattle. More information about Polaris Venture Partners is available at www.polarisventures.com.

This news release contains certain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Such statements are only predictions and the company's actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause such differences include the timing of clinical trials, the risk that products that appeared promising in early research and clinical trials do not demonstrate safety or efficacy in clinical trials and the risk that the company will not obtain approval to market its products.

Press Contact:

Michele Rozen
Pure Communications, Inc.
Email: michele@purecommunicationsinc.com
Phone: 617-730-8284

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