News

GRONINGEN, The Netherlands, March 14, 2006 - InnoCore Technologies, a drug delivery company, announced today that it has granted SurModics, Inc. (Nasdaq: SRDX), a leading provider of surface modification and drug delivery technologies to the healthcare industry, an option to acquire a license with exclusivity in defined fields to its SynBiosysÔ technology - a family of biodegradable polymers for use in the site specific delivery of drugs from medical devices. The agreement is an important step for InnoCore to accelerate the commercialization of its proprietary polymer platform in the area of drug eluting medical devices.

Biodegradable drug delivery systems, either as a coating on a medical device or as a depot formulation, have the ability to locally deliver drugs to achieve a therapeutic effect whereafter they are naturally degraded by the body over time. The SynBiosys polymer platform is a family of patent-pending biodegradable multi-block copolymers that are based on novel combinations of well-known and regulatory approved building blocks, such as lactide, glycolide, caprolactone and polyethylene glycol. Its biodegradability, biocompatibility and easily programmable release characteristics make it an excellent platform for the controlled release of a broad range of biologically active compounds, such as peptides and small to medium sized molecules. In initial studies, InnoCore developed a 6-month release formulation of a peptide using the SynBiosys polymer system, which showed true zero-order kinetics without initial burst release. It has further been demonstrated that the polymers can be made into various product configurations, such as coatings, membranes, microspheres, rods and gels. Using its SynBiosys polymers, and in close collaboration with its partners from the medical device and pharmaceutical industry, several drug-eluting products, including pharmaceutical microsphere-based drug delivery products and drug-eluting stents are currently in various stages of development.

"We are delighted to be working with SurModics, a company with an excellent track record in the drug-eluting medical devices arena," said Theo Flipsen, Managing Director and CEO of InnoCore. "We are very proud of the SynBiosys polymer system we have developed at InnoCore, and we believe SurModics will help accelerate the adoption of our polymers within the medical device industry."

"Building upon the broadest range of technology offerings in the drug delivery arena remains a key goal for SurModics," said Bruce Barclay, President and CEO of SurModics. "Our customers continue to express strong interest in biodegradable polymers for various applications. The SynBiosys family of biodegradable polymers from InnoCore allows us to offer our customers another outstanding technology platform to further the development of their products needing site specific drug delivery products."

About InnoCore

InnoCore Technologies is a privately held company serving the medical device and pharmaceutical industry with advanced biodegradable polymeric drug delivery technologies. Through development and licensing partnerships, and using its proprietary technologies, InnoCore creates innovative injectable and implantable drug delivery products and drug-eluting medical devices. The company is located in Groningen, The Netherlands. InnoCore's internet address is www.innocore.nl.

About SurModics, Inc.

SurModics, Inc. is a leading provider of surface modification technologies in the areas of biocompatibility, site-specific drug delivery, biological cell encapsulation, and medical diagnostics. SurModics partners with the world's foremost medical device, pharmaceutical and life science companies to bring innovation together for better patient outcomes. Recent collaborative efforts include the implementation of SurModics' Bravo^TM drug delivery polymer matrix as a key component of the first-to-market drugeluting coronary stent and the use of the CELLabration^TM encapsulation system as an immunoprotective coating for implantable human islet cells. SurModics is also active in the ophthalmology market with a sustained drug delivery system that is currently in human trials for treatment of retinal disease. A significant portion of SurModics' revenue is generated by royalties earned from the sale of our customers' commercial products. SurModics is headquartered in Eden Prairie, MN. More information about the company can be found at www.surmodics.com. The content of SurModics' web site is not part of this release or part of any filings the company makes with the SEC.

Contact

Theo Flipsen, Managing Director / Chief Executive Officer +31-50-36 80 770