Well, this can't hurt... wonder why they didn't put this out with the earnings announcement it beyond me.. mayber they inked it today:
Tuesday October 5, 4:01 pm Eastern Time
Company Press Release
SOURCE: Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Millennium Forms Agreements With Incyte and Lexicon
Genetics For Access to Genomic Databases
Accessing Additional Gene Sequences Will Allow Millennium to Increase Focus And Resources on Drug
Discovery and Development
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Oct. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: MLNM - news) announced today that it has
entered into two database agreements intended to accelerate its access to the complete set of human genes while permitting Millennium
to increase its focus on drug discovery and development. Through a non-exclusive agreement with Incyte Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq:
INCY - news), Millennium will gain access to Incyte's LifeSeq® Gold database and Incyte's LifeTools(TM) data management software.
And, through a non-exclusive agreement with Lexicon Genetics Incorporated, Millennium will gain access to Lexicon's Human Gene
Trap(TM) and OmniBank® Databases. Financial terms of the agreements were not disclosed.
''These partnerships are an important part of Millennium's overall strategy to focus more of our internal activities on downstream drug
discovery and development,'' said Frank Lee, Ph.D., chief technology officer of Millennium. ''In line with this strategy, we would like to
complete Millennium's gene discovery effort within the next 12 months. Through the combination of our own substantial proprietary
database, the public human genome databases, and now Incyte's and Lexicon's databases, we believe we can access most or all of the
genes in the human genome, giving us a very large pool of genes from which to select novel drug targets.''
Incyte's LifeSeq® Gold database integrates millions of Incyte novel gene sequences with public Human Genome Project data to provide
researchers with a comprehensive view of the genome. LifeSeq Gold contains approximately 140,000 human genes including 50,000 novel
genes not available in the public domain. LifeSeq® Gold is the first commercially available product to integrate large-scale gene mapping
results, full-length sequences and verified clone reagents with world-class bioinformatics tools for analyzing and managing information.
The LifeTools(TM) data-management software provides researchers with a scalable system for processing, storing, analyzing and
managing both proprietary and public domain data. LifeTools(TM) enables researchers to warehouse sequence and expression data from
human, animal, plant, microbial, as well as other biological research data.
''Incyte's LifeSeq Gold® database augments Millennium's own databases with one of the world's most comprehensive reference sets of
genomic information,'' said Vincent Miles, Ph.D., vice president of business and technology management at Millennium. ''Lexicon's
unique forced-expression approach to gene identification will provide Millennium with a significant number of novel, high-value genes that
have not been accessible through existing gene-discovery approaches. These are some of the many approaches we are employing to
identify novel genes while increasing our focus on drug discovery and development.''
''Millennium has demonstrated its leadership in target validation through genomic technologies, and now as a drug discovery and
development company,'' said Roy A. Whitfield, chief executive officer of Incyte. ''We look forward to supporting Millennium in their
efforts by providing them with our most comprehensive human-genomics data set and bioinformatics tools for use in their drug discovery
and development programs.''
To access additional novel genes, Millennium will utilize Lexicon's Human Gene Trap(TM) Database that includes thousands of genes not
found in publicly available databases. Lexicon's proprietary gene-trapping technology rapidly captures both commonly and rarely
expressed genes to create a normalized gene sequence database.
''Lexicon's unique approach to gene identification has enabled us to rapidly build a substantial database of human genes that do not
appear to be represented in other sequence databases,'' said Arthur T. Sands, M.D., Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of
Lexicon. ''With this agreement, Millennium gains access to our databases for the discovery and development of a broad category of
products, including drug targets, therapeutics proteins and diagnostic products. We are pleased to be working with Millennium, a proven
leader in genomics-based drug discovery and development.''
Millennium will also access Lexicon's OmniBank® database of mouse genes, which facilitates the creation of genetically engineered or
''knockout'' mice for the validation of potential drug targets. Such mice can be very important for target validation by providing crucial
information about the role of specific genes in disease from an in vivo mammalian system.
Earlier this year, Millennium signed a multi-year agreement with Lexicon to use its portfolio of proprietary homologous recombination
technologies to create genetically engineered mice for use by Millennium in the validation of potential drug targets identified and selected
by Millennium.
Incyte Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a leading provider of an integrated platform of genomic technologies designed to aid in the understanding
of the molecular basis of disease. Incyte develops and markets genomic databases, genomic data management software,
microarray-based gene expression services, related reagents and services. These products and services assist pharmaceutical and
biotechnology researchers with all phases of drug discovery and development including gene discovery, understanding disease pathways,
identifying new disease targets and the discovery and correlation of gene sequence variation to disease. For more information, visit
Incyte's web site at www.incyte.com.
Lexicon Genetics Incorporated (www.lexgen.com) is a pioneer in the design, development and application of high-throughput gene
trapping and mutagenesis technologies for gene discovery and functional genomics. Lexicon employs its proprietary Human Gene
Trap(TM) Database, OmniBank® library of gene-trapped mouse clones and bioinformatics software in an integrated technology platform
for drug discovery and drug target validation. In addition to its agreement with Millennium, Lexicon has commercial OmniBank® alliances
with ZymoGenetics/Novo Nordisk and DuPont Pharmaceuticals. Lexicon also provides OmniBank® access through the Internet to
subscribers at leading academic and not-for-profit institutions throughout the world. Lexicon Genetics Incorporated, founded in 1995, is a
privately-held company based in The Woodlands, Texas, U.S.A.
Millennium, 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 to patient management, to accelerate and transform the discovery and development of
proprietary therapeutic and Diagnomics(TM) products and services. Headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Millennium and its
affiliates currently employ more than 800 people.
This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks and uncertainties. Among the factors that could
cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in such forward looking statements include uncertainties relating to gene
identification, drug discovery and clinical development processes; changes in relationships with strategic partners and dependence upon
strategic partners for the performance of critical activities under collaborative agreements; the impact of competitive products and
technological changes; uncertainties relating to patent protection and regulatory approval; and uncertainties relating to the ability of
Millennium and its affiliates to obtain the substantial additional funds required for progress in drug discovery and development. The factors
that could affect Millennium's performance are more fully described in filings by Millennium with the Securities and Exchange
Commission including but not limited to the factors set forth under the heading ''Business - Factors That May Affect Results'' in the
Annual Report on Form 10-K of Millennium for the year ended December 31, 1998 as filed on March 24, 1999.
NOTE: This release is available on Millennium's home page at: mlnm.com
SOURCE: Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
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