Hercules Provides $10 Million Financing to Early-Stage Neosil, a Pharmaceutical Company Developing Dermatological Treatments

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Adding a dermatology focused pharmaceutical company to its portfolio, Hercules Technology Growth Capital, Inc. (NASDAQ:HTGC), a leading specialty finance company providing growth capital to venture capital and private equity backed technology and life science companies, today announced that on May 2, 2007 it provided $10 million of venture debt financing to Neosil, Inc.

Neosil is currently in development of two dermatological products. First is Neosil's prescriptive hair growth peptide, designed to promote hair growth in patients with androgenetic alopecia. The product has recently completed a phase IIa clinical trial in Germany and demonstrated statistically significant increases in terminal hair counts of treated patients. Neosil's second product is a topical antimicrobial treatment. The treatment, which has shown indications of a broad scope of action, offers opportunities within dermatology, surgery, burn therapy and prevention of bacterial and fungal colonization of the skin.

"Hercules was particularly impressed with Neosil's product pipeline and scope of therapeutics in development for an early stage pharmaceutical company," said Kathy Conte, managing director of life sciences at Hercules. "We believe that the broad range of application and consumer driven need for both of Neosil's current products will provide a number of opportunities for success within the industry."

"With the specialized financing from Hercules, Neosil can more easily navigate the development process and allocate funds to further clinical trials for our products currently in development," noted Eugene Bauer, M.D., chief executive officer of Neosil.

About Hercules Technology Growth Capital, Inc.:

Founded in December 2003, Hercules Technology Growth Capital, Inc. is a NASDAQ traded specialty finance company providing debt and equity growth capital to technology-related companies at all stages of development. The Company primarily finances privately-held companies backed by leading venture capital and private equity firms and also may finance certain publicly-traded companies. Hercules' strategy is to evaluate and invest in a broad range of ventures active in technology and life science industries and to offer a full suite of growth capital products up and down the capital structure to prospective clients ranging from early-stage growth to expansion stage companies. The Company's investments are originated through its principal office located in Silicon Valley, as well as additional offices in the Boston, Boulder and Chicago areas. Providing capital to publicly-traded or privately-held companies backed by leading venture capital and private equity firms involves a high degree of credit risk and may result in potential losses of capital.

For more information, please visit www.HTGC.com. Companies interested in learning more about financing opportunities should contact info@HTGC.com, or call 650.289.3060.

About Neosil:

Neosil, Inc. is a privately held dermatology-focused pharmaceutical company that was funded in November 2004 with a $32 million investment by MPM Capital and Burrill & Company, following initial incubation funding by Shalon Ventures, LP. In addition to its topical hair growth product, NEOSH101, Neosil is developing a broad-spectrum topical anti-microbial agent for acne and anti-infective use. For more information, visit www.neosil.com.

Forward-Looking Statements:

The statements contained in this release that are not purely historical are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and are subject to uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements including, without limitation, the risks, uncertainties and other factors we identify from time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Although we believe that the assumptions on which these forward-looking statements are reasonable, any of those assumptions could prove to be inaccurate and, as a result, the forward-looking statements based on those assumptions also could be incorrect. You should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this release are made as of the date hereof, and Hercules assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements for subsequent events.

Source: Hercules Technology Growth Capital, Inc.

Released May 15, 2007