Press Release:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Aronow & Pollock Communications, Inc.
Elizabeth Mankin or Barbara King, (212) 941-1414

BALTIMORE, January 19, 2000 -- Brassica Protection Products LLC (BPP) announced that it has won its lawsuit against The Sproutman, Inc. (Sproutman), a Pennsylvania company, to prevent the unauthorized sale of broccoli sprouts licensed by BPP. Under the terms of a consent judgment entered by the federal court in Wilmington, Delaware, Sproutman was found to have infringed upon all three of BPP's patents covering sulforaphane-rich broccoli sprouts, and was permanently prevented from making, selling or offering for sale its infringing broccoli-sprout products. Sproutman's counterclaims and defenses challenging the validity of the patents were dismissed.

"This victory firmly demonstrates that BPP can enforce the patents on sulforaphane-rich broccoli sprouts resulting from years of research at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine," stated BPP CEO, Antony Talalay. "It also resolves the meritless claim by Sproutman that the BPP patents are invalid," stated Talalay.

In June of 1999, BPP and The Johns Hopkins University filed suit alleging that Sproutman was making and selling broccoli sprouts that infringed U.S. Patent 5,725,895 assigned to The Johns Hopkins University. The suit was amended to include two additional patents, 5,968,505 and 5,968,567, which were issued in October 1999. In granting the newly issued patents, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office considered and rejected publications upon which Sproutman (and other members of the sprout growing industry) have alleged render U.S. Patent 5,725,895 invalid.

The Patent Office is currently re-examining U.S. Patent 5,725,895. BPP and The Johns Hopkins University will vigorously defend the patent. "We are confident that the patentability of the inventions will be confirmed in view of the fact that the prior art and issues raised in the re-examination request have already been considered and rejected during prosecution of the two more recently issued patents", said Talalay. He added, "BPP will continue to enforce its rights based on the body of patents issued."

BPP is the exclusive world-wide licensee of this technology from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and makes these products available exclusively as BroccoSprouts^®.

Currently, only 14 sprout growers in the United States are licensed by BPP to grow the patented broccoli sprouts from proprietary seeds. All BPP growers are required to follow FDA guidelines for producing sprouts with stringent food safety efforts. In the future, BPP may license other growers who can meet the requisite quality and food safety standards.

BPP's BroccoSprouts^® are available in the fresh produce section of supermarkets across the country such as Safeway, Kroger, Albertsons, A&P, Jewel, Dominick's Fine Foods, Giant, Fresh Fields and Wegmans. Consumers wishing to purchase these sprouts should speak with their produce manager or call 1-888-551-8989 for more information.

Brassica Protection Products LLC was founded in 1997 to commercialize scientific discoveries of dietary strategies to prevent cancer by Paul Talalay M.D. and Jed Fahey, faculty members at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. BPP's offices are located in Baltimore, Maryland. BPP's telephone number is 410-837-9244.