Biacore and Millennium Pharmaceuticals collaborate

BIACORE AND MILLENNIUM PHARMACEUTICALS COLLABORATE Early Commitment Gives Millennium Drug Discovery Advantage Biacore International AB (Biacore) today announces a collaborative 1 agreement with Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc . (Millennium), whereby the US based biopharmaceutical firm will evaluate Biacore's new prototype instrumentation for application in drug discovery. Based on novel, biomolecular binding analysis technology, the instrument will be utilized by Millennium to accelerate the identification of potential drug targets and small molecule lead candidates. The collaboration provides Millennium with an opportunity to gain early access to innovative technology that aims to bring forward critical decision milestones in drug discovery, thereby improving the quality of drug development pipelines. For Biacore, the alliance will provide crucial data to aid product development and optimization. "This evaluation study brings Biacore another step closer to the commercialization of an innovative product platform which will have broad application in the late stages of drug discovery," said Lars-Göran Andrén, Biacore's President and Chief Executive Officer. "The product aims to meet the growing demands for detailed biomolecular binding analysis specifically in areas of secondary high-throughput screening, lead 2 compound characterization and optimization, and ADME drug screening." "We believe that access to cutting-edge technology is critical to Millennium's future drug development strategies and an important route for us to gain real competitive advantage. To these ends, we are extending our relationship with Biacore since our initial investment in their technology is already paying off, especially in terms of the wide level of biological data we can generate. A key factor to us is that Biacore's technology holds the versatility to be fully integrated into our existing operations and directly linked to 3 methodologies such as HPLC and mass spectrometry," said Dr Michael Pavia, Chief Technology Development Officer at Millennium. "This exciting new product platform holds great promise for providing key decision-making data in the critical late stages of drug discovery." As part of the collaboration, Biacore will give Millennium Pharmaceuticals a prioritized option for both involvement in subsequent development programs and for accessing the new platform product prior to its commercial launch. For further information, please contact: - Julian Abery, Marketing Manager Drug Discovery Tel: +44 780 8900 732 1. Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a leading drug discovery and development company, employs large-scale genetics, genomics, high throughput screening and informatics in an integrated science and technology platform. This innovative drug discovery platform is applied across the entire healthcare sector, from gene identification through patient management, to accelerate and transform the discovery and development of proprietary therapeutic and Diagnomics products and services. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Millennium and its affiliates currently employ more than 850 people. The release is available on Millennium's home page at: http://www.mlnm.com 2. ADME stands for Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism and Excretion and represents the pharmaceutical characterization of new drug candidates. 3. HPLC stands for High Pressure Liquid Chromatography and is a technology used among other things for separation and quantification of molecules. Biacore is a global market leader in affinity-based biosensor technology. Target groups consist primarily of medical and life science research laboratories. However, expansion is also being pursued in other areas, such as food analysis. Biacore had sales of SEK 288.8 million in 1998 and an operating income of SEK 52.8 million. Based in Uppsala, Sweden, the company is listed on the OM Stockholm Exchange and NASDAQ in the U.S. Further information on Biacore can be found on the web: www.biacore.com Biacore International AB Rapsgatan 7 S-754 50 Uppsala Tel: +46 (0)18-675700 Fax: +46 (0)18-150111 e-mail: develop.bia@eu.biacore.com ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/12/09/19991209BIT00350/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/12/09/19991209BIT00350/bit0002.pdf