Medicago begins human clinical testing with its avian flu pandemic vaccine

	    QUEBEC CITY, Oct. 1 /CNW/ - Medicago Inc. (TSX-V: MDG) a biotechnology
company focused on developing highly effective and affordable vaccines based
on proprietary manufacturing technologies and Virus-Like Particles (VLPs),
today announced that it has initiated a Phase I human clinical trial with its
H5N1 Avian Influenza vaccine ("H5N1 vaccine"). Enrolment is ongoing and
vaccination has commenced. The Phase I placebo-controlled, double-blind,
dose-escalating study will evaluate safety, tolerability and the immune
response of the Company's H5N1 vaccine candidate in 48 healthy volunteers
between the ages 18 to 60. Results of this study are expected during the
fourth quarter of 2009.
	    "This first human study with our lead vaccine candidate confirms
Medicago's development as a clinical stage company," said Louis P. Vézina,
Chief Scientific Officer of Medicago. "This is an important step for our H5N1
vaccine candidate, which has the potential to be highly effective,
cross-protective, less expensive and faster to produce than current influenza
vaccines."

	    About Medicago's pandemic flu vaccine candidate

	    Medicago's H5N1 vaccine candidate was formulated to protect against the
avian influenza virus. It is manufactured in Nicotiana benthamiana, a relative
of the tobacco plant, using the Company's proprietary VLP technology. VLPs
have several advantages over traditional influenza vaccines. They resemble the
virus, allowing them to be recognized readily by the body's immune system,
however, they lack the core genetic material making them non-infectious and
unable to replicate. Medicago's VLP-based vaccine has shown in preclinical
studies it can provide cross- protection against different strains of avian
flu, such as the Vietnam and Turkey strains. As Medicago's technology requires
the genetic sequence of a viral strain and not the live influenza virus,
vaccines can be manufactured within 4 weeks of obtaining the genetic sequence
ofthe pandemic strain. This is in contrast with all current manufacturing
technologies which rely on strain adaptation, leading to an additional 4-6
months before vaccine production can be initiated.