Tuesday March 20, 8:01 am Eastern Time
Press Release
SOURCE: Lynx Therapeutics, Inc.
Lynx Announces Collaborative Research Agreement
With AstraZeneca to Identify Disease-associated SNPs
HAYWARD, Calif., March 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Lynx Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: LYNX
- news) announced today a collaborative research agreement with AstraZeneca (FTSE:
AZN, NYSE: AZN, Stockholm: AZN). The agreement involves the application of Lynx's
Megatype(TM) technology for genome-wide scans to discover single nucleotide
polymorphisms, or SNPs, associated with asthma.
AstraZeneca will provide to Lynx DNA samples from asthma-affected and control
individuals, which will then be analyzed using Lynx's Megatype(TM) technology. The
resulting SNP markers are expected to provide powerful leads with which to discover
asthma-related loci on the human genome. The data resulting from the collaborative research
agreement are expected to provide insight into the genetic components of asthma.
Under the agreement, Lynx will receive payments from AstraZeneca at the initiation of the
project and upon achievement of certain project objectives. No other financial terms of the
agreement were disclosed.
``We are pleased AstraZeneca has chosen Lynx as a collaborator in asthma,'' stated Dr.
Norrie Russell, President and Chief Executive Officer of Lynx. ``We believe that the rapid
and comprehensive analysis of SNPs enabled by our Megatype(TM) technology should
accelerate the understanding of this important disease.''
``We are looking forward to a successful collaboration using Lynx technology to accelerate
our efforts in understanding major complex diseases,'' said Dr. John Stageman, Vice
President, Global Enabling Science and Technology, AstraZeneca.
Asthma affects more than 15 million Americans, including almost 5 million children. Asthma is
the most prevalent chronic disease among children. According to statistics from the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, the projected costs related to asthma in the United
States for the year 2000 are expected to reach $14.5 billion.
About Megatype(TM) Technology
Megatype(TM) technology, when fully developed, is intended to permit the comparison of
collected genomes of two populations and enable the detection and recovery of DNA fragments with the SNPs that distinguish
these two populations. In contrast to other SNP validation methods that require thousands or millions of assays, only a single
Megatype(TM) technology experiment should be required for SNP association with disease or other traits. Lynx believes its
Megatype(TM) technology will deliver information on the disease- or trait-association of SNPs and should provide a
cost-effective approach to drug discovery and pharmacogenetics.
AstraZeneca is a major international healthcare business engaged in the research, development, manufacture and marketing of
ethical (prescription) pharmaceuticals and the supply of healthcare services. It is one of the top five pharmaceutical companies
in the world with healthcare sales of $15.8 billion and leading positions in cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, oncology, anaesthesia
including pain management, central nervous system (CNS) and respiratory products.
Lynx is a leader in the development and application of novel technologies for the discovery of gene expression patterns and
genomic variations important to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and agricultural industries. These approaches are based on
Megaclone(TM) technology, Lynx's unique and proprietary cloning procedure, which transforms a sample containing millions of
DNA molecules into one made up of millions of micro-beads, each of which (referred to as a DNA analysis template) carries
approximately 100,000 copies of one of the DNA molecules in the sample. Lynx prepares nearly 100 million of such DNA
analysis templates every week for subsequent analyses. Megaclone(TM) technology is the foundation for Lynx's analytical
applications, including: Massively Parallel Signature Sequencing, or MPSS(TM), technology, which provides gene sequence
information and high-resolution gene expression data including even the very rare transcripts; Megasort(TM) technology, which
provides differentially expressed gene sets; and Megatype(TM) technology, which is expected to provide single nucleotide
polymorphism, or SNP, disease- or trait-association information. For more information, please visit lynxgen.com.
Statements included in this press release that are not historical in nature, are ``forward-looking statements'' within the meaning
of the ``safe harbor'' provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements include those related
to the discovery and identification of single nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs, associated with asthma and the potential
success of collaboration arrangements. Lynx cautions readers that forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in the forward-looking statements. These
risks and uncertainties can include the Company's inability to discover and identify SNPs associated with asthma; the prospect
of continued losses by the Company; and other risks identified from time to time in the Company's reports filed with the U.S.
Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company directs readers to its reports filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1999, and Quarterly Report on
Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2000.
SOURCE: Lynx Therapeutics, Inc. |
