Biacore Selected for National Proteomics Project in Japan

Biacore Selected for National Proteomics Project in Japan Venture aims to accelerate Japan's Biotechnology industry Uppsala, Sweden, 20 th November, 2000. Biacore International AB (Biacore) (SSE: BCOR; Nasdaq: BCOR) today announced that Biacore K.K., the Japanese subsidiary of Biacore, has been appointed by the Japanese New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) to participate in a major national research project to study protein function. The Protein Function Analysis project is sponsored by the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) and the budget for the first year 2000 is 1.34 billion yen.This project is set to make a major contribution to the Government's Millennium Project - which is aimed at creating a new Japanese industry based on biotechnology and IT. The Protein Analysis Project will aim to harness the power of proteomics research to augment the biotechnology industry within the country. NEDO has delegated the management and implementation of the project to the Japan Biological Informatics Consortium (JBiC), of which Biacore K.K. is a member. The project aims to develop new technology to study protein function based on human long cDNA and human genome sequence information and to establish the foundation of biological materials and information for the development of a bioindustry. Eleven companies from JBiC along with seven universities/institutes will form five groups under the project leader, Dr. Nobuo Nomura of the Kazusa DNA Institute. Biacore K.K. will collaborate with both NTT Data Corporation and Tokyo Metropolitan University in a group that will focus on protein interaction analysis. NTT Data Corporation, a subsidiary of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone, Japan's largest system integrator will be providing its software and database expertise to the project. The group in which Biacore is a key member will focus on the systematic analysis of the protein network of the cell including membrane proteins using a range of proteomics methologies. The Interaction Analysis group also plans to establish a novel database of protein interactions that will be used to design an integrated bioinformatics database. Ulf Jonsson, President of Biacore International AB commented, "Biacore is delighted to have been chosen to take part in this very prestigious project in Japan. Our selection highlights the growing recognition globally of the value of our microfluidics, surface chemistry and SPR technology in the field of protein function analysis. We are particularly happy as part of this project to be developing an optimised interface between our own SPR technology and mass spectrometry, a combination that will provide new insights in terms of protein function research." This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which, by their nature, involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future. There are a number of factors that could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Notes to editors: 1 Biacore is a global market leader in Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) based technology with its own sales operations in the U.S., across Europe, in Japan, Australia and New Zealand. The technology is protected by a strong patent portfolio. Target groups consist primarily of medical and life science research laboratories and pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies all over the world. Biacore focuses on drug discovery as the prime area for future growth. The company currently has six systems on the ® market with its BIACORE 3000 system offering specific application in drug discovery processes upstream of high-throughput screening (HTS). A new high-performance system is currently under late-stage development and will focus on applications downstream of HTS. Based in Uppsala, Sweden, the company is listed on the OM Stockholm Exchange and Nasdaq in the U.S. In 1999 the company has sales of SEK 340.4 million and an operating income of SEK 67.6 million. Further information on Biacore can be found on the web: www.biacore.com Address and phone: Biacore International AB Rapsgatan 7, SE-754 50 Uppsala, SWEDEN Phone: +46 (0)18-675700 Fax: +46 (0)18-150111 info@biacore.com ------------------------------------------------------------ This information was brought to you by BIT http://www.bit.se The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/11/20/20001120BIT00620/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/2000/11/20/20001120BIT00620/bit0002.pdf