BASF and Symyx Sign Collaboration.

LUDWIGSHAFEN, Germany and SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BW HealthWire)--May 10, 1999--BASF Aktiengesellschaft and Symyx Technologies, Inc. today announced that they have initiated a strategic collaboration to apply combinatorial materials science to the identification of specialty polymers for use in industrial formulations. Under the terms of the two-year partnership, Symyx will receive $4 million in research payments as well as payments from products resulting from the collaboration.

"Our collaboration with Symyx complements our focus on high-value products and processes. We expect that the use of combinatorial methodologies will accelerate the discovery of new specialty polymers and the collaboration will provide a basis for understanding the applicability of combinatorial methodologies across polymer science," stated Professor Hans-Uwe Shenk, president, BASF's Polymer Research Laboratory.

"We are delighted to be working with BASF, the largest chemical company in the world, to pursue significant technical and commercial opportunities," said Isy Goldwasser, president and chief operating officer of Symyx.

With sales in excess of $32 billion, BASF is one of the leading companies in the chemical industry. The company's products range from natural gas, oil and basic chemical products through innovative intermediates to specialties, high value-added chemicals, crop protection products and pharmaceuticals. BASF is noted for its chemical expertise and highly developed integrated systems, known as Verbund. Based in Ludwigshafen, Germany, BASF is a transnational organization with operations in 39 countries and more than 100,000 employees.

Founded by Dr. Alejandro C. Zaffaroni and Peter G. Schultz, Symyx is pioneering the field of combinatorial materials science, which develops and applies combinatorial methodologies to the discovery and improvement of materials for the electronics and chemical industries. Dr. Zaffaroni, founder of ALZA Corporation, DNAX Research Institute, Affymax N.V. and Affymetrix, serves on the Symyx Board of Directors. Dr. Schultz is head of the Novartis Institute for Genomics Research and a professor of chemistry at the Scripps Research Institute.

Symyx has over 130 employees and has raised more than $50 million to date from private and venture sources, including Aventis Research and Technology, Bayer INNOVATION, Chemical and Materials Enterprise Associates, Institutional Venture Partners, and Venrock Associates.