Icon Genetics and Biosource Technologies Announce License Agreement.

PRINCETON, N.J.--(BW HealthWire)--July 23, 1999--

Icon Genetics, Inc. announced today the signing of an agreement with Biosource Technologies, Inc. (Vacaville, CA) in which Biosource will license key enabling gene transfer technology from Icon for use in conjunction with Biosource's proprietary GENEWARE(TM) system.

"The agreement recognizes the importance of being able to control gene activity and of managing the transfer of transgenes into valuable crops, particularly as our rate of gene discovery escalates," said Robert Erwin, CEO of Biosource. "Our Genomics group continues to generate a tremendous number of new and useful genes, many of which will need go on to testing in valuable crop species after validation in GENEWARE," added Erwin.

Though significant investment of agricultural biotech R&D resources are poured into the discovery of new genes, significantly less effort is undertaken to develop more efficient and reliable gene transfer technologies. "Almost no effort has been devoted to building systems to efficiently move these genes into elite lines or in developing systems for handling large numbers of transgenes in breeding programs," said Yuri Gleba, CEO of Icon Genetics.

Technology in development at Icon is designed to provide rapid movement of transgenes while avoiding transfer of undesirable genetic material from the non-commercial variety. Traditionally, non-commercial varieties used in the laboratory have little agronomic value. Several years are often required to move a transgene into a commercially important line in a traditional breeding program. "There is currently no easy way to move these genes into the hundreds of varieties of important crops. The current breeding process requires sorting through thousands of plants of each variety to find the best individual in a population, but the line is still 'contaminated' with genetic material from the non-commercial parent. Icon's technology allows the transfer of genes of interest while avoiding these pitfalls typical of a traditional program," said Newell Bascomb, President of Icon Genetics.

Icon Genetics, Inc., was founded in 1999 and is currently operating research labs in Kiev, Ukraine, with labs opening soon in Germany and the U.S. The company's focus is to solve problems in transgene management as agricultural biotechnology enters the postgenomic era. The company strives to bring the speed and efficiency of crop engineering up to that of gene discovery by developing products to address the problems of moving transgenes into elite varieties. Icon's web address is www.icongenetics.com.

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. Biosource's alliance with The Dow Chemical Company and Dow AgroSciences created one of the world's largest plant functional genomic research programs dedicated to the discovery of gene-based agricultural and chemical products. Corporate offices and Biosource Genomics are headquartered in Vacaville, California. Large Scale Biology, Inc. (a wholly owned subsidiary located in Rockville, MD), is the leading provider of proteomic technologies to the life sciences industry. Biosource's bioprocessing and manufacturing facilities are located in Owensboro, KY. For more information about Biosource Technologies, Inc. visit its web site at www.biosource-technologies.com.