Genesis Research Announces Settlement Delay

Auckland, New Zealand, 9 January 2009 – Genesis Research and Development Corporation Ltd (NZSX/ASX: GEN) advises that the final payment to Genesis by Pure Power Global (PPG) for the sale of shares in BioJoule Limited was not received on 19th December as required by the contracts with PPG.

The difficult financial market conditions have prevented PPG from raising sufficient funds to repay Genesis the outstanding debt of $2 million plus accrued interest. Genesis has not been able to assess the likelihood or timing of repayment.

Genesis Chief Executive, Stephen Hall, said, “Under the Sale and Purchase Agreements with PPG, Genesis and the other vendors have the right to resume ownership of the shares in BioJoule that were sold to PPG. At this stage we have not exercised that right as we continue to discuss a resolution of the matter with PPG.

“As a result of the limited cash reserves of Genesis, accounting standards for the going concern assumption will not be satisfied for the financial report as at 31 December 2008 although sufficient funds are available for the next half year.

“Genesis is considering opportunities to raise capital from existing shareholders and new investors. Further information about capital raising is expected to be provided to shareholders in February 2009.”

About Genesis

Founded in 1994, Genesis is a New Zealand-based biotechnology company. It has built a broad therapeutic development platform targeting immune disorders and cancer and is focusing on developing RNAi therapeutics for oncology.

Genesis now holds 27 issued patents. The US Patent and Trademark Office has allowed claims for 10 of these, and the rest are from a number of other countries, including 6 from New Zealand. There are 6 applications pending in the U.S.A. and more than 9 pending in other countries.

Genesis also has royalty rights for various products that are being developed by other parties in the fields of agriculture, bioinformatic software, forage grass, forestry, horticulture, etc. resulting from previous collaborations.

For further information see www.genesis.co.nz

Media contacts:

Stephen Hall, Chief Executive - Genesis Research and Development Corporation Limited, +64 9 373 5600

Aki von Roy, Chairman - Genesis Research and Development Corporation Limited, +64 21 556 659

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