GTC Biotherapeutics Named in Annual Wall Street Journal Technology Innovation Awards

GTC Biotherapeutics, Inc.’s ("GTC", Nasdaq: GTCB) today announced that The Wall Street Journal has selected GTC as first runner-up in the "Medicine-Biotech” category of the Journal’s 2009 Technology Innovation Awards. The Journal cited GTC for its "production of pharmaceutical proteins using transgenic animals (goats). The process enables cheaper—and greener—manufacturing of proteins.”

GTC is the world’s first company to receive regulatory approvals in both the United States and Europe for a pharmaceutical protein produced via transgenic animals. In the first quarter of 2009, GTC obtained approval of the Biologics License Application (BLA) for ATryn®, a recombinant form of human antithrombin, for the prophylactic treatment of hereditary antithrombin deficient patients undergoing surgery or childbirth. Lundbeck Inc. launched the product in the U.S. in the second quarter of 2009.

According to the Journal, a Journal editor reviewed nearly 500 entries, sending more than 180 to a team of judges from research institutions, venture-capital firms and other companies, with only seven percent of all entries receiving Awards. Judges considered whether innovations were truly groundbreaking and looked at whether their application would be particularly useful in a time of economic hardship. (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203440104574399714096167656.html#mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLENexttoWhatsNewsSecond)

"We are delighted that GTC’s groundbreaking production technology has received this recognition through this prestigious award from the Wall Street Journal. The global market for therapeutic recombinant proteins has grown steadily over the last two decades, reaching more than $120 billion dollars in 2008, according to market estimates,” noted Geoffrey Cox, Ph.D., GTC’s Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer. "GTC’s proprietary innovation allows our partners for ATryn and the other products in our development pipeline to enter the recombinant biologics market as approvals are obtained with greatly reduced capital expense, risks, time, and a miniscule environmental ‘footprint’ compared to conventional scale bioreactors.”

About GTC Biotherapeutics, Inc.

GTC Biotherapeutics develops, supplies and commercializes therapeutic proteins produced through transgenic animal technology. ATryn®, GTC’s recombinant human antithrombin, has been approved for use in the United States and Europe. ATryn is the first and only product produced in transgenic animals to be approved for therapeutic use anywhere in the world. In addition to ATryn, GTC is developing a portfolio of recombinant human plasma proteins with known therapeutic properties. These proteins include recombinant forms of human coagulation factors VIIa and IX, which are being developed for the treatment of hemophilia. GTC is also developing a portfolio of follow-on biologic monoclonal antibodies and a CD20 antibody with enhanced ADCC (antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity). GTC’s intellectual property includes a patent in the United States through 2021 for the production of any therapeutic protein in the milk of any transgenic mammal. GTC’s transgenic production platform is particularly well suited to enabling cost effective development of proteins that are difficult to express in traditional recombinant production systems as well as proteins that are required in large volumes. Additional information is available on the GTC web site, http://www.gtc-bio.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including without limitation statements regarding the prospects for future products using GTC’s proprietary technology. Such forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from future results expressed or implied by such statements. Factors that may cause such differences include, but are not limited to, the risks and uncertainties discussed in GTC's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and its other periodic reports as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the uncertainties associated with conducting clinical studies, the risks and uncertainties associated with dependence upon the actions of partners and regulatory agencies, and the uncertainty that GTC will be able to obtain additional revenues and financial resources, including through continuing and new external programs and marketing and strategic partners for some of its internal programs and additional equity financings. GTC cautions investors not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements contained in this release. These statements speak only as of the date of this document, and GTC undertakes no obligation to update or revise the statements, except as may be required by law.