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An analyst and top management from twenty one sector firms examine the Private Biotechnology sector in this 82-page Private Biotechnology Issue from The Wall Street Transcript, available at (212/952-7433) or www.twst.com

TWST: Reni, you’re putting on a biotech conference. Could you tell us about that?

Dr. Benjamin: By way of background, Rodman & Renshaw is a full-service investment bank with a focus on small to mid-cap biotechnology and technology companies. We are committed to the long-term development of emerging companies through value-added equity research, institutional sales and trading, strategic advice, and capital raising. Our equity research, sales and trading efforts cater only to institutional clients looking to invest in undervalued, under-covered companies with outstanding technologies. Currently, the biotechnology team consists of seven PhDs of which four are senior analysts including myself, Elemer Piros, David Wood and Navdeep Jaikaria. Combined, we cover a wide range of therapeutic categories including oncology, cardiology, infectious disease, inflammation and autoimmune diseases. Companies currently under coverage by the biotech team at Rodman include Aksys (AKSY), Alteon (ALT), Ariad Pharmaceutical (ARIA), Applied Molecular Evolution (AMEV), AVI BioPharma (AVII), Cepheid (CPHD), CollaGenex Pharmaceuticals (CGPI), Cypress Bioscience (CYPB), Dyax (DYAX), Encysive Pharmaceuticals (ENCY), Genelabs Technologies (GNLB), Genta (GNTA), Geron (GERN), InKine Pharmaceuticals (INKP), Isis Pharmaceuticals (ISIS), Repligen (RGEN), Rita Medical Systems (RITA), SuperGen (SUPG), Tanox (TNOX) and United Therapeutics (UTHR). As part of Rodman and Renshaw’s continued growth and development, the company acquired all the rights to the Annual Techvest Healthcare Conference. The conference, to be held in Boston from October 21-23, 2003, will host over 150 public and private companies, as well as a large number of institutional and venture capital investors.

TWST: As you look at biotech today, where do you see the opportunities?

Dr. Benjamin: We believe biotechnology as a whole is going to outperform the general market in both the near and long terms — thus far, the sector has done just that. Within biotechnology itself, we believe the small and mid-cap names have the best chance of outperforming the overall market. While one could invest in the “blue-chip” biotechnology names such as Genentech or Amgen, we believe that much of the value is already factored into the company valuations. However, if one chooses to invest in small to mid-cap names, we believe that the potential return on investment could be multiple times the initial investment. Additionally, while the large cap biotech companies are at a later stage in their respective growth cycle, we believe many of the small to mid-cap names are just beginning the ascension of their respective aggressive growth cycle.

TWST: As we look forward, what’s going to be the role of major pharma in this space, as they kind of scrounge around for new products?

Dr. Benjamin: I think big pharma is going to continue doing what they do best: seek and acquire biotechnology companies with outstanding technologies and solid therapeutic portfolios. At the same time, many big pharma companies are choosing to in-license as well as co-promote products. In the case of the latter, the big pharma companies do not assume much of the developmental and financial risk associated with acquiring a company, but share in the potential upside of the biotechnology products.

TWST: What does your coverage look like?

Dr. Benjamin: Right now, my coverage consists of several oncology companies including AVI BioPharma, Genta and Geron, one cardiovascular company called Alteon and one value play which is of a different risk profile, if you will, called CollaGenex Pharmaceuticals.

TWST: Those are a couple of big, high-profile markets.

Dr. Benjamin: Right. As you know, it’s news that moves these stock valuations. Geron also has cancer vaccine data coming up at the end of the year that could move the stock significantly.

This special issue includes:

1) Opportunities in Biotechnology - In an in-depth (2,200 words) Analyst Interview, Dr. Reni Benjamin, a Senior Biotechnology Analyst at Rodman and Renshaw, examines the outlook for the sector and shares specific stock recommendations.

2) CEO interviews (average 2,500 words). Top management of twenty one - sector firms examine the outlook for their firm and the sector. Firms include:

ACADIA Pharmaceuticals, ActivBiotics, Athersys Inc., Celera Diagnostics, Cengent Therapeutics, Cetek Corporation, Corcept Therapeutics, EraGen Biosciences, Helicon Therapeutics, High Throughput Genomics, Idenix Pharmaceuticals, Memory Pharmaceuticals Corp., Milkhaus Laboratory, NanoBio Corporation, Santarus, Scion Pharmaceuticals, Surface Logix, Syrrx, Taconic Farms, Targacept, Xenogen Corporation