BioTrove Screens One Million Samples in 12 Months Using Mass Spectrometry.

WOBURN, Mass. -- E[acute accent]--New contracts signed with both large pharmaceutical and biotechnology customers for BioTrove's RapidFire(TM) Lead Discovery Service --

E[acute accent]BioTrove, Inc. announced today the successful screening of more than one million individual samples in the last 12 months using the RapidFire(TM) Lead Discovery system. The Company also announced two new contracts signed with a large, undisclosed pharmaceutical firm and a large, undisclosed biotechnology company, on whose behalf some of the samples were screened. E[acute accent]BioTrove's RapidFire Lead Discovery is a mass spectrometry-based service enabling the high throughput screening of biochemical assays. The use of mass spectrometry allows for label-free screening of challenging and intractable drug targets using native substrates. The Company's platform can analyze individual assays by mass spectrometry at throughputs of three to eight seconds per sample, providing a dramatic increase in throughput over conventional liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry systems. E[acute accent]"Having reached this milestone of screening a million samples in a relatively short period of time, really speaks to the breadth and depth of our platform technology," said Can (Jon) Ozbal, Ph.D., manager of the RapidFire program. "The throughput afforded by RapidFire technology is providing researchers in drug discovery with a novel tool to identify lead molecules against a series of valuable targets that are incredibly challenging to screen with existing technologies." E[acute accent]BioTrove offers access to the RapidFire Lead Discovery system as a high-throughput screening service that includes assay development, primary screening, as well as supporting secondary screening and chemistry programs. The one million samples were screened as part of multiple screening campaigns working in confidential collaboration with customers ranging from large pharmaceutical firms to early-stage biotechnology companies. Because the majority of primary screening was performed on compressed chemical libraries, the amount of chemical diversity actually screened is well over 10 million compounds. E[acute accent]"The recent contracts with two well-established and sizeable pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms combined with our existing customer base, further validates the applicability of our technology in research programs to expedite lead identification time," explained Patrick Carroll, chief business officer of BioTrove. "As for the future, we aim to significantly increase our output over the next 12 months as we work with more customers on an increasing number of screening campaigns." E[acute accent]Recent data supporting the capabilities of the RapidFire Lead Discovery system will be presented at the Screentech World Summit, held in San Diego from March 21-23, 2005. The BioTrove exhibit is booth number 214. Dr. William LaMarr, head of RapidFire assay development, will be available to answer questions and provide additional information.

E[acute accent]About BioTrove, Inc.

E[acute accent]BioTrove, Inc. is a biotechnology company focused on advancing life science and drug discovery research by leveraging revolutionary micro- and nano-scale technologies. BioTrove has two core platforms: OpenArray(TM) Applications based on Thru-Hole(TM) technology, a broadly applicable nano-liter fluidics technology platform for massively parallel and low-volume analysis of genetic, genomic, proteomic, biochemical and cellular samples and RapidFire(TM) Lead Discovery, an assay development and high throughput screening service that unlocks the value of intractable drug targets.

E[acute accent]For more information contact, please visit www.biotrove.com.