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Biotech / Medical : Illumina (ILMN) Optics for Genomics -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: mopgcw who wrote (17)	2/3/2002 7:21:13 PM
From: mopgcw	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 276

Illumina Reports Financial Results for Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2001 Company Also Discloses Two Unannounced Genotyping Services Contracts SAN DIEGO--(BW HealthWire)--Jan. 31, 2002--Illumina, Inc. (Nasdaq:ILMN - news) announced today its financial results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year ended December 30, 2001. For the quarter ended December 30, 2001, Illumina reported a net loss of $8.2 million, or $0.27 per share, compared to a net loss of $4.6 million, or $0.16 per share for the same period in 2000. The net loss for the year ended December 30, 2001 was $24.8 million, or $0.83 per share, compared to a net loss of $18.6 million, or $0.76 per share for the same period in 2000. Revenues for the fourth quarter and fiscal year were $0.8 million and $2.5 million respectively, as compared to $0.5 million and $1.3 million for the same periods in 2000. Cash and investments at December 30, 2001 totaled $93.8 million. ``In the fourth quarter we achieved two key milestones that will lay the foundation for significantly expanded commercial activity in 2002 and beyond,'' commented Jay Flatley, Illumina President and CEO. ``First, we increased our genotyping services capacity to over 1 million genotypes per day. At this level, we believe that Illumina provides the highest throughput and lowest cost points available, which will make feasible -- for the first time in the industry -- large-scale genotyping studies. This achievement is the direct result of the inherent scalability and multiplexing of our BeadArray(TM) technology. Second, we have expanded our Oligator(TM) DNA synthesis capacity to over 5 million oligonucleotides (oligos) per year -- sufficient to build a meaningful market position while satisfying growing internal demand.'' Other Quarterly Highlights Near the end of 2001, we signed our second genotyping contract with an undisclosed genomics company. Since the beginning of January, we have announced two contracts: one with Johns Hopkins and one with Boston University. In addition, we have signed two unannounced contracts: our second services agreement with Johns Hopkins and a new agreement with an undisclosed party. The company is in active negotiation with a number of additional potential customers for its genotyping services. Illumina continues to make the necessary process and automation improvements to support commercial production levels of our Array of Arrays(TM) technology. The Company is finalizing configuration of the Sentrix(TM) 96-bundle array matrix to be used in our collaboration with Applied Biosystems and has completed array manufacturing scale-up in anticipation of the projected mid-2002 availability of a turnkey, high-throughput genotyping system. The Company began implementation of a marketing program to promote our genotyping services and oligo businesses. To build sales and take advantage of low-cost manufacturing, Illumina launched an $0.18/base oligo pricing promotion for the first quarter of 2002. We believe we are now offering industry-leading pricing and performance for the market segments that we serve in both of these businesses. Illumina completed a sublease agreement for the occupancy of approximately 20,000 square feet in the Company's new 100,000 square foot facility. The term of this agreement has been structured to allow a planned expansion by Illumina into the sub-leased space on a phased basis over an 18-month period. Outlook for 2002 At this point in time, we are comfortable with the Wall Street analyst consensus estimate for 2002 earnings. We expect the large majority of our revenues for 2002 will be driven by our SNP genotyping services and oligo manufacturing businesses. We do not expect to receive significant revenue from the launch of the genotyping system being developed with Applied Biosystems until 2003. Our performance milestones for 2002 include the following: Sign 10 genotyping service contracts Launch (by Applied Biosystems) our jointly developed commercial genotyping system Add a second application into our services business Initiate build-out of worldwide marketing channels Launch an Illumina commercial product Illumina is developing next-generation tools for the large-scale analysis of genetic variation and function. The information provided by these analyses will enable the development of personalized medicine, a key goal of genomics and proteomics. The Company's proprietary BeadArray technology will provide the throughput, cost effectiveness and flexibility necessary to enable researchers in the life sciences and pharmaceutical industries to perform the billions of tests necessary to extract medically valuable information from advances in genomics. This information will correlate genetic variation and gene function with particular disease states, enhancing drug discovery, allowing diseases to be detected earlier and more specifically, and permitting better choices of drugs for individual patients. Illumina's technology will have applicability across a wide variety of industries beyond life sciences and pharmaceuticals, including agriculture, food, chemicals and petrochemicals.