Philadelphia, PA - February 28, 2003

Quaker BioVentures, on behalf of Quaker BioVentures, L.P., announced today the closing of $180 million in commitments, for the venture capital fund's first closing.

Quaker BioVentures is a Pennsylvania-based life science venture capital fund focused on investment opportunities in the Mid-Atlantic region, from New York to North Carolina. The fund targets opportunities across the healthcare sector, including human therapeutics, medical devices, platform technologies, diagnostics, healthcare information technology and healthcare services.

"We are gratified in this extremely difficult venture capital environment to have a first closing of our fund with such strong commitments from top tier institutional investors," said Brenda Gavin, Quaker BioVentures Managing Partner. "Quaker BioVentures' initial investors include major public pension funds, corporate pension funds, university endowments, and charitable foundations."

"Our fund is well positioned to take advantage of the extraordinary opportunity in the Mid-Atlantic region, which has the largest concentration of life science resources in the U.S., yet is dramatically underserved by the life science venture community," said Sherrill Neff, Quaker BioVentures Managing Partner. "Our proximity to the heart of the world's biopharmaceutical industry also gives us significant advantages," Neff said.

Quaker BioVentures' founding partners include Dr. Brenda Gavin, formerly President of S.R.One, GlaxoSmithKline's corporate venture capital fund, and partner of EuclidSR, an independent venture capital fund; Sherrill Neff, formerly President of Neose Technologies, a leading biotechnology company in the region; and Ira Lubert, the founder of Independence Capital Partners, a family of leading investment funds. Dr. Matt Rieke, a founding Principal of Quaker BioVentures, is a former principal of PA Early Stage Partners. v Quaker BioVentures is a member of Independence Capital Partners ("ICP"), which is a family of private investment management firms. Other members include Lubert-Adler Real Estate, LLR Equity Partners, and LEM Mezzanine. ICP has approximately $2.0 billion of capital under management.

Please visit www.quakerbio.com to learn more.

About Independence Capital Partners: Independence Capital Partners is a family of leading private investment management firms comprising Quaker BioVentures, Lubert-Adler Real Estate, LLR Equity Partners, and LEM Mezzanine. Each Member Firm is individually and separately owned by its senior investment managers and makes active investments in distinct, non-competitive asset classes.

Operating under the ICP umbrella, the Member Firms receive both scale and efficiency benefits. Because the firms have complementary investment focuses, the Managers are able to proactively cross-fertilize ideas, leverage internal expertise and share networks and resources. Specifically, ICP is able to leverage support functions across Member Firms to deliver highest quality services in the most cost effective manner.

Formed in 1997, ICP has approximately $2.0 billion of capital under management by its Member Firms, responsible for real estate, venture capital and buyout transactions. Collectively, ICP has 55 employees, including 35 investment professionals. ICP Member Firms conduct their investment activities independently, but share investment expertise and utilize a common infrastructure. ICP Member Firms share a fully integrated, centralized back office that comprises a ten-person team that covers finance, accounting and tax, compliance, risk management and insurance, information technology, investor relations and human resources.

Please contact www.icpartners.com to learn more.

Contacts: Sherrill Neff
Quaker BioVentures
1811 Chestnut Street, Suite 700
Philadelphia, PA 19103
215-988-6811
sneff@quakerbio.com

Larry Hollin
Independence Capital Partners
1811 Chestnut Street, Suite 700
Philadelphia, PA 19103
215-717-2900
lhollin@quakerbio.com