Biosource Technologies and Large Scale Biology Join to Provide Advanced Protein-Based Technologies to the Life Sciences Industry.

VACAVILLE, Calif.--(BW HealthWire)--Feb. 3, 1999--Biosource Technologies, Inc. (Biosource) and Large Scale Biology Corporation (LSB) today jointly announced the signing of a definitive agreement whereby Biosource will acquire privately held LSB.

The combination creates the leading provider of next generation protein-based advanced technologies for life science discovery and product development.

"The two companies' joint technologies raise the bar in life science industries obsessively focused on genomics-based target discovery and product development," noted Leigh Anderson, President and CEO of Large Scale Biology. "Protein expression, not DNA sequence, provides the key to function in biology and thus will drive the next wave of advanced drug development technologies."

"Until recently, complex and laborious global protein analysis ("proteomics") was not thought to be capable of matching the scale of large DNA sequencing efforts", said Robert Erwin, CEO of Biosource.

"Biosource, however, recognizes LSB's proprietary technology as offering the industry unprecedented high-throughput, automated, large-scale protein expression analysis, thus clearing a path to direct functional analysis of disease processes and drug effects. The proteomics approach overcomes major uncertainties involved in extrapolation from mRNA expression profiles, and allows a re-engineering of the drug development process based on radically increased rates of capture of knowledge on biological mechanisms."

Biosource will complement LSB's technology portfolio with its own proprietary technology in functional genomics, antigenics, and a world-class GMP bioprocessing facility for the extraction of pharmaceutical-grade proteins from plants. The two companies' joint goal is comprehensive product-driven research.

Under the terms of the agreement, LSB will become an operating subsidiary of Biosource, and remain under the leadership of Leigh Anderson, LSB founder, President and CEO. Under its new name, Biosource Proteomics, LSB's facilities in Rockville, MD, will be expanded to accommodate increased throughput and enlarged development efforts.

In addition to a broad technology base, the joined companies will leverage extensive industry relationships, including a pipeline of developing alliances with leading pharmaceutical and vaccine companies. The new company's list of disclosed research collaborations includes such industry leaders as The Dow Chemical Company/Dow AgroSciences LLC, Genentech, F. Hoffman La Roche, Eli Lilly, Novartis, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, Rhone Poulenc-Rorer, and SmithKline Beecham.

"There is strong synergy between our companies," said Leigh Anderson." Both companies have developed patented and proprietary technologies that focus on the realities of protein rather than inferences from mRNA and DNA. This perspective gives us a much better picture of what actually happens in commercially-important biology than is obtained from the classical approaches of genomics."

"The joining of these two companies will allow us to accelerate the application of Pharmaceutical Proteomics to solving a broad range of life science challenges," commented Robert Erwin. "Combining our technologies and people with LSB's outstanding organization will allow us to quickly extend the proteomics platform in response to the key needs and bottlenecks of life science companies".

Biosource Technologies, Inc. is a fully integrated research-through-manufacturing enterprise that provides novel technologies to greatly improve the speed and productivity of life science discovery and product development programs. In September, Biosource announced a three-year collaboration with The Dow Chemical Company and Dow AgroSciences to create one of the world's largest plant functional genomic research programs dedicated to the discovery of gene-based agricultural and chemical products. Biosource is headquartered in Vacaville, CA with manufacturing facilities in Owensboro, KY. For more information about Biosource Technologies, Inc. visit their web site at www.biosource-technologies.com.

Large Scale Biology Corp. (LSB) applies proteomics, databases and advanced bioinformatics to the discovery and development of improved drugs, diagnostics and agricultural chemicals. Major efforts include the Molecular Anatomy and Pathology (MAP(TM)) database, describing the protein composition of human cells and tissues and how these change in disease, and the Molecular Effects of Drugs (MED(TM)) database, characterizing the effects of drugs and other xenobiotics on protein expression. In addition, LSB conducts numerous collaborative proteomics research projects with partners in the pharmaceutical, diagnostic and biotechnology industries. Under its new name, Biosource Proteomics, LSB will continue to make significant investments in development of proteomics technology, building on its longstanding record of innovation in this area. For more information about LSB/Biosource Proteomics, located in Rockville, MD, visit their website at www.lsbc.com.