ZMTX Alliance With The Weather Channel
Weather.com Joins With Zymetx's National Flu Surveillance
Network to Track Influenza Across the United States
Agreement Establishes Alliance between The Weather Channel Website and NFSN's fluwatch.com
OKLAHOMA CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 11, 2000-- The National Flu Surveillance Network(TM)(NFSN) announced
that it will join forces with The Weather Channel© website, weather.com, the world's leading source of weather on the
Web, to report influenza outbreaks across the United States via the weather.com site.
Beginning in mid-January, content from NFSN's fluwatch.com will be featured in the weather.com ``Health' area located at
www.weather.com/health. The section will include flu alert surveillance maps to help prepare users for this year's flu
season, and will also offer comprehensive health maps and allergy and respiratory information.
As part of the relationship, NSFN will provide weather.com with its unique ability to track influenza in real-time, online.
The data provided to weather.com will be compiled through NSFN's nationwide network of over 3,000 physicians at
surveillance sites that track influenza by using the ZstatFlu(TM) rapid point-of-care flu diagnostic test developed by
ZymeTx. ZstatFlu is the first flu diagnostic test capable of detecting all strains and types of influenza A and B with a 99
percent reliability on positive tests.
``We chose NFSN's fluwatch.com for its breadth and depth of coverage, data reliability and real-time reporting capability,'
said Jody Fennell, vice president and executive producer of weather.com. ``The product also fits with our goal to deliver
relevant, useful content that helps weather.com users plan and prepare for their daily lives.'
``The selection of NFSN as a premier influenza disease tracking system for weather.com further validates the integrity of our
data and its usefulness to consumers,' noted Dr. Robert Hudson, ZymeTx medical director. ``Moreover, the NFSN
fluwatch.com site will gain valuable and significant exposure from its affiliation with The Weather Channel's weather.com
site.'
NFSN will provide weather.com with daily updates on the status of influenza in all 50 states. A city-specific influenza status
will be available for selected major cities in the U.S., and links will give users access to extensive content on the
fluwatch.com site, including history, symptoms, diagnosis and treatment information.
About ZymeTx, Inc.
ZymeTx, Inc. is an emerging biotechnology company engaged in the development of unique products for the diagnosis and
treatment of viral diseases, viral management and disease surveillance. The company developed ZstatFlu, the first and most
accurate rapid point-of-care test for influenza A and B. NFSN, with sites in all 50 states, is able to detect regional influenza
outbreaks so that physicians can alert their patients to the danger and prescribe antiviral medications to ease the impact of
the disease. ZstatFlu and National Flu Surveillance Network are trademarks of ZymeTx, Inc.
About weather.com
The Weather Channel website, weather.com, is the world's leading source of weather on the Web, and one of the fastest
growing sites on the Internet.
As the premier all-weather site, weather.com offers comprehensive forecasts and weather-related information for more than
77,000 locations worldwide and features content highlighting the impact of weather on everyday life, including sports, travel
and health. weather.com averages more than 130 million page views per month and is consistently ranked the top
single-content news site by Media Metrix. Marketing and distribution relationships include America Online and AOL.COM,
Netscape, CompuServe, AOL's Digital City, Go2Net, InfoSpace, ZDNet, ESPN.com, and ABCNews.com.
weather.com is the leading provider of broadband and wireless weather products accessible through high speed Internet
services, phones, pagers, Palm Pilots, and other personal digital assistants. Broadband and wireless alliances including
Road Runner, Sprint PCS, GTE Airfone, Nokia, AT&T Wireless, SkyTel and Palm Computing.
The Weather Channel, Inc., based in Atlanta, is the nation's premier provider of weather information. The only 24-hour
international weather network, The Weather Channel is seen in more than 74 million homes nationwide. The Weather
Channel is owned by Landmark Communications, Inc., a Norfolk, Va.-based privately held media company with global
interests.
Safe Harbor Statement
Statements in this news release that are not strictly historical, including statements as to plans, objectives and future
financial performance, are ``forward-looking' statements that are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private
Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Although ZymeTx believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking
statements are reasonable; it can give no assurance that the expectations will prove to be correct. Factors that could cause
actual results to differ materially from ZymeTx's expectations include, among others, competition within the viral disease
detection and treatment industry; the Company's access to and the market's acceptance of new products; the Company's
ability to market therapeutic products; the Company's ability to establish and/or expand contractual relationships with
managed care organizations; the effects of economic conditions and government regulation on the healthcare market and on
reimbursement policies; as well as the risks, uncertainties and other factors described from time to time in the Company's
periodic filings on Forms 10-QSB and 10-KSB on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Contact:
ZymeTx, Inc.
Norman R. Proulx, CEO
or
G. Carl Gibson, CFO
405/271-1314
or
The Gooden Group
Jane Braden, 405/715-3232
or
weather.com/Stanton Crenshaw
Helen Medvedovsky, 212/780-1900 |
