18.1.2002

Press Release

Kuros Therapeutics sells its dental related activities to Straumann

Kuros Therapeutics AG will sell its dental related activities to Straumann AG, the companies announced on January 15, 2002.

Kuros Therapeutics AG was formed in 2000 as a spin-off from the University of Zurich and ETH Zurich. The company is based in Zurich, Switzerland, in and around the campus of the University of Zurich and ETh Zurich and the Zurich University Hospital. The company has focused on developing novel therapies for biosurgery, tissue repair and regeneration.

Under the terms of the agreement, Straumann AG will acquire 100% of Kuros Therapeutics AG in cash (for an undisclosed sum). The Kuros Therapeutics AG activities that are outside of Straumann’s field of activity will be spun out into a new company. The new company and Kuros Therapeutics AG will remain at the same location and will collaborate closely on use of resources and know-how.

The transaction is expected to close in the next few weeks.

"This transaction underlines the quality of Kuros’ technology and its commercial potential,” said Didier Cowling, CEO of Kuros. "Straumann’s aim to enter the biologics field will continue the strong development of Kuros’ dental products activities. We look forward to working with them in the development of Kuros’ technology and products.”

for more information please see:
www.kuros.ch

A copy of the Straumann AG Press Release with regard to the transaction is copied below for convenience:

Straumann entry into biologics sector

An important component of the Straumann Group’s strategy is the development of expertise in the area of active biomaterials for soft and hard tissue regeneration. As a result, Straumann has acquired Kuros Therapeutics AG, located in Zurich. It has been agreed that the purchase price will be kept confidential. The company develops biomaterials to accelerate the body’s own healing of wounds and bone damage. It works closely together with the ETH (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology) and the University of Zurich (Prof. Jeffrey Hubbell, Director of the Institute for Biomedical Engineering at the ETH and University of Zurich). Kuros’ first marketable products are expected in 2004.

The Straumann Group is convinced that this acquisition will give it important expertise needed to enter the specialist sector of biologics, and that, in the medium term, it will complement the Group’s oral implantology product portfolio. At an organizational level, Kuros Therapeutics will be integrated into the Straumann Group as a division. We were able to win Dr. Sandro Matter, the co-founder of Kuros, who has a doctorate in chemistry from the ETH in Zurich, as the head of this division. The remaining founders of Kuros will found a new company to develop further those technologies and products which fall outside the Straumann Group’s field of activity.

Straumann Holding AG
Hauptstrasse 26
4427 Waldenburg
Switzerland
Tel: +41 61 965 11 11
Fax: +41 61 965 11 01
e-mail: investor.relations@straumann.com or info@straumann.com
Homepage: www.straumann.com