NC IDEA & WIN Lead $3 Million Funding for Affinergy's Medical Device Coatings


RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C., March 8, 2006 - Affinergy, Inc., a Duke University spinout with a proprietary site-specific biological delivery system, announced that it has closed on a Series B round of investor funding led by existing investors. The money will be invested to expand partnering activities and begin development of proprietary Affinergy products.

"Affinergy is grateful for the continued support of our shareholders in accelerating our growth," said Peyton Anderson, CEO of Affinergy. "We have many unique and exciting opportunities to leverage our technology platform to improve the performance of medical devices which will ultimately help many healthcare patients. Affinergy's plan for 2006 is to add new scientists, expand our base of partners, initiate several pre-clinical programs, and begin developing our own proprietary products. This new funding allows us to begin these investments immediately."

"NC IDEA remains very excited by the potential of Affinergy to improve a wide variety of medical devices," said David P. Rizzo, CEO of NC IDEA, who is joining Affinergy's Board of Directors. "Affinergy's team has executed very well on its initial plan and we enthusiastically support the acceleration of activities and investments for the next few years. We believe Affinergy has a very bright future both as a company and an investment for our fund."

"WIN members are very enthusiastic by the recent progress as well as the future opportunities that Affinergy is targeting," said Michael Cain, Executive Director of Wilmington Investor Network (WIN), which has tripled its initial investment in Affinergy. "We have great confidence in the market opportunity, management team, and business strategy of Affinergy. WIN looks forward to continuing its active support of Affinergy as it enters this exciting growth phase."

Other investors included Charleston Angel Partners, Trinity Healthcare, and numerous individual investors.

About Affinergy, Inc.

Affinergy develops site-specific biological systems using biofriendly linkers that selectively adhere to proteins, drugs, cells, and biomaterial surfaces in order to kickstart biology toward an intended outcome. Affinergy is focused on developing coatings and medical devices for the orthopedic and cardiovascular markets. Affinergy's technology was patented at Duke University and the company has been incubated at Becton Dickinson's research center in Research Triangle Park. Affinergy was awarded 2005 Innovation of the Year by Frost & Sullivan in the category of Medical Device Coatings.

For more information, visit www.affinergy.com or contact Peyton Anderson at (919) 345-4732.

About NC IDEA

NC IDEA provides grants, loans and traditional venture capital to help young companies between seed funding and Series A financing. We further support these companies by leveraging our strong, strategic partnerships and alliances to help them through research phases, business challenges and growth goals. NC IDEA is committed to supporting North Carolina's economic development by ensuring young, innovative companies grow, create jobs and become contributing business leaders.

For more information, visit www.ncidea.org.

About WIN

Wilmington Investor Network, LLC (WIN) is a private equity fund of angel investors located in Wilmington, North Carolina, that provides capital to early-stage companies in eastern North and South Carolina. Membership is comprised of investors from all areas of business who are interested in high-growth companies' investment return potential.

For more information, visit www.wilmingtoninvestor.com.