RIDGEFIELD, Conn., Feb. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Xmark Opportunity Partners, LLC ("Xmark"), the sole member of the investment manager of Xmark Opportunity Fund, L.P. and Xmark Opportunity Fund, Ltd., has, in the past, sent letters to the Board of Directors of Icagen, Inc. (Nasdaq: ICGN) setting forth its dissatisfaction with the company's corporate governance, management and strategic direction. Xmark would like to take this opportunity to respond to the Form 8-K filed by the company on January 29, 2009.

While Xmark applauds the Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors for choosing to not pay cash bonuses to the company's executive officers for 2008, it believes that this is but a small step in the right direction. Xmark is pleased that cash bonuses for the company's executive officers for 2009 will be based, in part, on "building shareholder confidence." However, Xmark believes that there are additional steps that can be taken by the company to pare its cash-burn requirements. As Xmark has repeatedly pointed out to the company, these are challenging economic times; the Board of Directors should continue to tighten the company's economic belt for the coming years.

Xmark remains committed to monitoring its significant common stock investment in the company and remains hopeful that it can engage in productive dialogue with the company to help it maximize shareholder value by, among other things, pursuing strategic alternatives.

SOURCE Xmark Opportunity Partners, LLC