March 4, 2009, Seoul, S. Korea ? BNP Paribas Corporate & Investment Banking Korea (http://www.bnpparibas.co.kr) and Institut Pasteur Korea announce that they signed a sponsorship agreement in order to support medical research on infectious diseases. In this partnership, BNP Paribas CIB Korea offers a financial aid of KRW 21 millions this year, which will be allocated to PhonomicScreen, IPK’s innovative (first-in-class) technology increasing the chances of success for drug discovery in a significantly reduced time. This partnership in Korea is part of BNP Paribas CIB’s global sponsorship programs across 29 countries to medical research teams from International Network of Instituts Pasteur.

PhenomicScreen is the innovative (first-in-class) technology which aims at increasing the chances of success and saving time significantly at drug discovery process by identifying previously unidentified target mechanisms and addressing aspects of efficacy and toxicity at a very early time point. Institut Pasteur Korea will open the independent institute at Pangyo, Kyunggi in May,2009 with expansion of R&D infra and scope, aggressively accelerating researches and technologies for the drug discovery.

Philippe Reynieix, Head of Territory of BNP Paribas CIB Korea, said, “We are pleased to support the drug discovery activities, the prevention and treatment of disease, education and public health activities in Korea by joining forces with IPK”

“This is the first donation which Institut Pasteur Korea has ever received. We express our gratitude at this generous contribution to the fight against diseases and the advancement of the drug discovery” Ulf Nehrbass, Director of Institut Pasteur Korea said. “We will make our efforts in contributing to the world healthcare improvement and the acceleration of drug discovery in Korea by taking fully advantage of our innovative R&D technologies”

Photo Description: BNP Paribas CIB Korea (Head of Territory for Korea: Philippe Reynieix, Left Side) signed a sponsorship agreement with Institut Pasteur Korea (Director: Ulf Nehrbass, Right Side), donating the amount of KRW 21 Mil., in 2009

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About BNP Paribas CIB
BNP Paribas Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB) has almost 16,000 employees deployed in over 53 countries around the world. BNP Paribas excels in three fundamental sectors in particular:
Derivatives ? it is one of the leading global players in rates, credit, forex, commodity and equity derivatives.
Capital markets ? it is amongst the top ten Euro houses for both ECM and DCM (bond issues, securitization, convertibles and shares).
Structured finance ? it is amongst the world leaders for acquisition, export, project and commodity finance.

About Institut Pasteur Korea
Institut Pasteur Korea is a non-profit organization based in South Korea. It was founded in April, 2004 with the strategic focus of enabling technologies and therapeutic development in disease models pertaining to public health. For additional information please visit http://www.ip-korea.org.