Corning Incorporated and Promega Corporation Announce Business Alliance; Joint Initiative Extends Efforts to Standardize and Enhance Microarray Processes.

Business Editors

CORNING, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 8, 2003

Corning Incorporated (NYSE:GLW) and Promega Corporation announced today a business alliance to co-develop, co-manufacture and co-market a fully optimized system of reagents for self-printing microarrays.

The Corning and Promega alliance to co-produce Pronto!(TM) Plus Systems will contribute significantly to the pharmaceutical industry's research efforts in gene expression analysis. Offering microarray research facilities the first ever fully integrated system of slides and reagents, the systems are optimized for ease-of-use and reliability of results.

"The synergy between the technologies of Promega and Corning provides the scientific community a unique blending of microarray technology all in one system," said Martin Rosenberg, vice president of research and development at Promega. "Through this alliance and its offerings of integrated solutions, we now have the capability to expedite our customers' results."

This alliance closely follows Corning's entry into the reagent market with its Pronto! Microarray Reagent Systems for validation, printing and hybridization. The new, enhanced system includes the Promega components comprised of the SV Total RNA Isolation System, ChipShot(TM) Labeling System and ChipShot Labeling Cleanup System.

"Through our customer contacts we recognized a need for a complete set of reagents that provides a fully optimized protocol from printing to hybridization. We looked to Promega for their expertise in RNA purification and labeling to complement the Pronto!(TM) Reagents. The resulting Pronto! Plus Systems optimize input RNA quality, labeling efficiency and hybridization background, giving a new level of sensitivity, reproducibility and success in DNA microarrays," said R. Pierce Baker, senior vice president, Corning Life Sciences.

For additional information on Corning Life Sciences products or services, please contact a customer service representative at 1-800-492-1110, toll free in the United States, ([phone] internationally, or visit www.corning.com/lifesciences.

For additional information on Promega products or services, please contact a customer service representative at 1-800-356-9526, toll free in the United States, and 1-608-274-4330 internationally, or visit www.promega.com.

About the Companies

Established in 1851, Corning Incorporated (www.corning.com) creates leading-edge technologies that offer growth opportunities in markets that fuel the world's economy. Corning manufactures optical fiber, cable, hardware and equipment in its Telecommunications segment. Corning's Technologies segment manufactures high-performance display glass, and products for the environmental, life sciences and semiconductor markets.

Promega Corporation is a global leader in providing innovative solutions for the life sciences industry. The company's 1,200 products enable scientists worldwide to advance knowledge in cellular analysis, proteomics and genomics research with applications in drug discovery, molecular diagnostics and human identification. Founded in 1978, the company is headquartered in Madison, Wisconsin, USA, and has extensive international distribution. For more information about Promega, visit www.promega.com.