CRS Completes Purchase Of Major Player In Genomics Automation.

Business Editors & Health/Medical Writers

BIOWIRE2K

BURLINGTON, Ontario--(BW HealthWire)--Oct. 3, 2000

CRS Robotics Corporation (TSE:ROB) today announced the purchase of the outstanding shares of Robocon Labor- und Industrieroboter Gesellschaft m.b.H. of Vienna, Austria, previously announced on August 23, 2000.

The acquisition, to be paid over two years, will be financed through the issuance of approximately 1,000,000 common shares and from current bank lines.

The merger of the two companies will take advantage of significant technological and geographical synergies of both organizations in the large and growing world market for laboratory automation. Robocon, a private Austrian company, will add significantly to the CRS installed base and will strengthen its leading position in global genomic markets.

Robocon, which has a strong reputation in high throughput pharmaceutical drug screening, is increasingly focusing on Genotyping, a procedure used for finger printing an individual's genetic make-up. This is correlated with an individuals genetic predisposition to a specific disease or their responsiveness to a specific cure. Genotyping is used by pharmaceutical and biotechnology research to better define drug target diseases and set better clinical test parameters for efficient and quick drug development.

Robocon's proprietary technology offers over 30-fold productivity increases over manual methods. Its recently introduced 3P (Plug&Play Peripherals) technology will allow the user to reconfigure the automation platform by plugging in new instruments as simply as plugging a modem card into a computer. To our knowledge there is no other technology available in the world today to match the 3P technology. Furthermore, Robocon contributes proven automation technology for high-density microplates, which have been recently introduced to increase the number and to lower the cost of customer tests in drug discovery significantly.

CRS' demonstrated engineering excellence and expertise in sophisticated mover technology and software algorithms for laboratory automation, will be complimented by Robocon's man decades of expertise in flexible microplate automation for high-throughput drug screening. The two principal shareholders and founders of Robocon are biochemists who have significantly contributed to the development of patented drug screening technology from the early days of high throughput screening, integrating one of the world's first fully automated drug discovery laboratories.

Based upon Robocon's sales projections, CRS FY 2001 revenues are anticipated to grow by approximately Cdn $6 million as a consequence of the acquisition.

Ralph Steedman, President and CEO of CRS commented, " this acquisition puts us into a leading position among companies supplying integrated automation to the genomics marketplace. No other company has the depth of experience or the installed base as we now have. The merger will strengthen our presence in Europe and in the United States as well as broaden our selected target markets. This truly is a case of the whole being considerably greater than the sum of its parts."

Franz E. Leichtfried, Co-Managing Director of Robocon added, "Combining the two companies offers substantial customer benefits. Both companies provide automation products with the highest reported uptime as well as engineering and software development capabilities resulting in productivity gains reported by our customers to be more than 30-fold. The merger positions the combined company as a market leader in application - oriented flexible laboratory automation providing a complete range of products for a customer base already including the Who's Who in pharmaceutical drug discovery, biotechnology and genomics. Together we will help the pharmaceutical industry break the bottlenecks in bringing new drugs to the market quicker."

Both CRS and Robocon design and manufacture completely automated laboratories and workstations, as well as software systems used in drug discovery, drug development, genomics, proteomics and clinical and animal health diagnostics.

CRS has been acknowledged as one of the few companies on the forefront of laboratory automation technology. Core competencies of the company include integrated lab automation solutions using advanced software for biotechnology and pharmaceutical research applications marketed worldwide. In addition, CRS manufactures and supplies robotic systems for advanced manufacturing niche markets. CRS is headquartered in Burlington, Ontario and has subsidiaries in the United States and Europe. Further information can be found at the company's web site at www.crsrobotics.com.