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Press Release

Covington Associates Advises Metaworks, Inc. in its Sale to United BioSource


Boston, MA — January 6, 2006 — Covington Associates LLC announced today that it acted as the exclusive sell-side advisor to Metaworks, Inc. (“Metaworks”) in its sale to United BioSource Corporation (“UBC”), a Bethesda, MD-based provider of evidence-based services to enhance the medical and commercial potential of pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical devices and diagnostics.   The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

MetaWorks, Inc., based in Medford, MA is a leading provider of systematic reviews and meta-analyses to inform development, marketing, and regulatory decision-making regarding health care products and services. The acquisition of Metaworks is part of the UBC strategy of building integrated capabilities to meet increasing demand by the pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device and diagnostics sectors for evidence-based product development and commercialization services.  MetaWorks will join UBC’s Health Care Analytics Group, the company’s team of world-recognized research scientists.

According to Shubh Sethi, President and CEO of Metaworks, “UBC gives us the expanded reach, additional resources, and expertise we need to meet the growing demand for our analytic and consulting services and data products.”

Ben Dunn, a Managing Director at Covington Associates and lead advisor to Metaworks on the transaction, was quoted as saying “Metaworks’ expertise in meta analysis and prominent customer base augment UBC’s excellent capabilities and reach.”

About Metaworks, Inc.

MetaWorks, Inc provides an array of clinical data products and scientific consulting services to aid the development and commercialization of drugs, devices, diagnostics, and procedures. The company is a world leader in systematic literature reviews of clinical data and the application of complex statistical methods, such as meta-analysis. MetaWorks’ database assets include MetaHubTM, a proprietary warehouse of formatted, synthesized, and appraised clinical trial data. MetaWorks is a privately held company and currently serves more than 75 clients in the life sciences industry.

About Covington Associates LLC

Covington Associates is a specialty investment banking firm founded in 1991 serving business service, consumer, industrial, healthcare and technology companies throughout the country.  Focused on mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity capital raising, debt and equity restructuring, and strategic advisory assignments for middle market companies, Covington Associates has completed transactions ranging in value from $10 million to over $1 billion for both private and publicly traded companies.  To learn more about Covington Associates, visit www.covingtonassociates.com.

MetaWorks acquired by UBC

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