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Biotech / Medical : CYTO -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jim Oravetz who wrote (7859)	4/28/2000 4:54:00 PM
From: Jim Oravetz	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 8116

PRINCETON, NJ - April 28, 2000 - AxCell Biosciences Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Cytogen Corporation (Nasdaq: CYTO) today announced that it had achieved two key milestones in its collaboration with InforMax, Inc. AxCell and InforMax completed the timely implementation of new, advanced software systems at AxCell, thus keeping the collaboration on schedule to begin marketing its proteomics database product at the beginning of next year. The collaboration team installed the latest version of InforMax's GenoMax software at AxCell's laboratory in Newtown, PA. The new GenoMax product will permit AxCell to identify more efficiently protein domains and ligands it uses for its high-throughput protein-protein interaction measurements. The GenoMax enterprise bioinformatics software also allows AxCell to conduct high-speed analysis of publicly available genetic and proteomic databases. The two companies also have completed the prototype software for visualizing AxCell's proprietary Inter-functional Proteomic DatabaseTM (IFP Database) of protein-protein interactions. This software is being designed to aid pharmaceutical companies in identifying new drug targets "This week we completed the prototype visualization software for the IFP Database, installed GenoMax, and also installed a laboratory information management system," said Brian R. Bullard, Vice-President and Chief Information Officer of AxCell. "We now have the backbone of our bioinformatics data tracking and data analysis systems in place, and we should remain on schedule to have our automated systems running at full capacity during the summer of 2000, measuring approximately 200,000 protein interactions per month." AxCell and InforMax began a collaboration in December 1999 to market AxCell's proprietary proteomics database as part of an enterprise bioinformatics solution to identify new drug targets for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. The multi-year agreement provides for technology development by InforMax to link AxCell's database to InforMax's GenoMax enterprise bioinformatic system, a new generation of molecular biology and genetics software. AxCell Biosciences Corporation is conducting research and development in functional proteomics, the identification of protein interactions and signaling pathways within cells and their relationship to disease processes. Genomics is the large-scale study of genes, which contain the necessary information to create proteins, the molecules that carry out the cell's biological functions. Proteomics research efforts can be categorized as structural and functional. Structural proteomics, or protein expression, measures the number and types of proteins present in normal and diseased cells. This approach is useful in defining the structure of proteins in a cell. Some of these proteins may be targets for drug discovery. However, the role of the protein in the disease is still not defined. AxCell's proteomics business is focused upon functional proteomics, the study of proteins' biological activities. An important function of proteins is the transmission of signals using intricate pathways populated by proteins which interact with one another. Elucidating the role proteins play in these signaling pathways allows a better understanding of their function in cellular behavior and permits identification of potential drug targets. Protein-protein interactions form the core of the Company's Inter-functional Proteomic DatabaseTM. AxCell's plans to offer the IFP Database to the pharmaceutical industry as a tool to accelerate the drug discovery process. For additional information on AxCell Biosciences, visit www.axcellbio.com. Jim