Applied Biosystems and QIAGEN Announce PCR Technologies License Agreement.

FOSTER CITY, Calif. & VENLO, Netherlands -- Applied Biosystems Group (NYSE:ABI), an Applera Corporation business and QIAGEN N.V. (NASDAQ:QGEN)(Frankfurt, Prime Standard:QIA) today announced that they have entered into a license agreement. Under the terms of the agreement, Applied Biosystems has granted a license to QIAGEN under the expanded Applied Biosystems PCR (polymerase chain reaction) licensing program. The expanded program includes patents for real-time PCR and other important PCR-related technologies not licensed under the previous PCR licensing program. Financial terms of the license were not disclosed.

"QIAGEN is another major licensee under the expanded program, which was initiated in June," said Catherine M. Burzik, President of Applied Biosystems. "Interest in our expanded PCR licensing program further demonstrates the value of our intellectual property for this fundamental technology in research and applied testing markets."

"Real-time PCR is the key technology in the rapidly growing life science research markets. With this additional license covering the usage of real-time PCR, QIAGEN is very well positioned as a leading manufacturer and supplier of high quality PCR reagents and kits in this field," said Peer M. Schatz, QIAGEN's CEO. "The license agreement with Applied Biosystems enhances QIAGEN's value as a leading supplier of a broad range of real-time PCR technologies which are optimized for use with our market and technology leading preanalytical solutions."

The Applied Biosystems expanded PCR licensing program includes licenses to the foundational patens as well as the two leading real-time PCR techniques known as the TaqMan(R) assay and the Dye-Intercalation Assay method. It also includes patents covering an improved form of the Taq polymerase enzyme (AmpliTaq Gold(R) technology) used to initiate PCR and referred to as Hot-Start. The expanded program follows an agreement signed in May 2005 between Applera and Hoffmann-La Roche for Applied Biosystems to be the sole licensor of Roche patents covering reagents and methods for practicing PCR and real-time PCR in the life science research and applied fields.

Although the foundational patents covering the PCR process expired in the United States in March 2005 and will expire elsewhere in March 2006, numerous other patents related to PCR remain in force. These surviving patents cover, for example, enzyme compositions, kits, and methods such as reverse transcription and DNA sequencing. Applied Biosystems will continue to offer licenses to these patents.

PCR, an enabling technology for life science and other research, is a process in which a segment of a nucleic acid (DNA or RNA) is copied or "amplified" so that the nucleic acid can be more readily analyzed. In real-time PCR, the amplified DNA is detected during, rather than at the end of, the PCR process, a feature that facilitates greater accuracy in important applications, including gene expression quantitation and genotyping.

About Applera Corporation and Applied Biosystems

Applera Corporation consists of two operating groups. The Applied Biosystems Group serves the life science industry and research community by developing and marketing instrument-based systems, consumables, software, and services. Customers use these tools to analyze nucleic acids (DNA and RNA), small molecules, and proteins to make scientific discoveries and develop new pharmaceuticals. Applied Biosystems' products also serve the needs of some markets outside of life science research, which we refer to as "applied markets," such as the fields of: human identity testing (forensic and paternity testing); biosecurity, which refers to products needed in response to the threat of biological terrorism and other malicious, accidental, and natural biological dangers; and quality and safety testing, for example in food and the environment. Applied Biosystems is headquartered in Foster City, CA, and reported sales of nearly $1.8 billion during fiscal 2005. The Celera Genomics Group (NYSE:CRA) is engaged principally in the discovery and development of targeted therapeutics for cancer, autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Celera Genomics is leveraging its proteomic, bioinformatic, and genomic capabilities to identify and validate drug targets, and to discover and develop small molecule therapeutics. It is also seeking to advance therapeutic antibody and selected small molecule drug programs in collaboration with global technology and market leaders. Celera Diagnostics, a 50/50 joint venture between Applied Biosystems and Celera Genomics, is focused on discovery, development, and commercialization of diagnostic products. Information about Applera Corporation, including reports and other information filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission, is available at http://www.applera.com, or by telephoning 800.762.6923. Information about Applied Biosystems is available at http://www.appliedbiosystems.com/.

About QIAGEN:

QIAGEN N.V., a Netherlands holding company with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, France, Italy, Australia, Norway, Austria, Canada, China, Sweden, and the Netherlands believes it is the world's leading provider of innovative enabling technologies and products for molecular diagnostics solutions and preanalytical sample preparation for the separation, purification and handling of nucleic acids and proteins. QIAGEN has developed a comprehensive portfolio of more than 320 proprietary, consumable products for nucleic acid and protein separation, purification and handling, nucleic acid amplification, as well as automated instrumentation, synthetic nucleic acid products and related services. QIAGEN's products are sold in more than 42 countries throughout the world to academic research markets and to leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies. In addition, QIAGEN is positioning its products for sale into developing commercial markets, including applied testing markets, clinical research, nucleic acid-based molecular diagnostics, and genetic vaccination and gene therapy. QIAGEN employs more than 1,500 people worldwide. Further information on QIAGEN can be found at http://www.qiagen.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking. These may be identified by the use of forward-looking words or phrases such as "believe," "expect," "should," "anticipate," and "planned," among others. These forward-looking statements are based on Applera Corporation's current expectations. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a "safe harbor" for such forward-looking statements. In order to comply with the terms of the safe harbor, Applera Corporation notes that a variety of factors could cause actual results and experience to differ materially from the anticipated results or other expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements. These factors include but are not limited to: (1) rapidly changing technology could adversely affect demand for Applied Biosystems' products, and its business is dependent on development and customer acceptance of new products; (2) risks associated with lawsuits, arbitrations, investigations, and other legal actions with private parties and governmental entities, particularly involving claims for infringement of patents and other intellectual property rights; and the possibility that Applied Biosystems may need to license intellectual property from third parties to avoid or settle such claims; and (3) other factors that might be described from time to time in Applera Corporation's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All information in this press release is as of the date of the release, and Applera does not undertake any duty to update this information, including any forward-looking statements, unless required by law.

Copyright 2005. Applera Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Applied Biosystems, Celera, and AB (Design) are registered trademarks, and Applera, Celera Diagnostics, and Celera Genomics are trademarks of Applera Corporation or its subsidiaries in the U. S. and/or certain other countries.