Internationally Renowned Developer of Software for Computer-Assisted Drug Discovery Launches Optive Research Inc.

Business Editors/Health/Medical Writers

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AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 9, 2003

Respected Scientist, Robert S. Pearlman, Launches New Venture with

More Than Fifteen Software Products Enabling More

Effective Drug Discovery

Professor Robert S. Pearlman today officially announced the formation of Optive Research Inc. (www.optive.com), a life sciences software company created to help scientists bring beneficial chemical compounds, primarily new drugs and agrochemicals, to market faster, and at lower cost. Dr. Pearlman is the Coulter R. Sublett Regents Chair in Pharmacy and the Director of the Laboratory for the Development of Computer-Assisted Drug Discovery Software at The University of Texas at Austin (UT-Austin). Optive will continue the research and development which Dr. Pearlman and his team at UT have conducted over the past twenty-five years, working collaboratively with many of the world's leading companies engaged in molecular discovery research in the Life Sciences.

"The formation of Optive Research ensures continued support for the large number of users around the world who rely on our software, and provides a solid foundation for ongoing scientific innovation and software development," stated Dr. Pearlman who will serve as President and Chief Scientific Officer for Optive Research. "I'm very grateful for the opportunities that my team and I have had over the years at UT to learn from and to assist outstanding scientists at many of the world's top drug discovery companies. Operating as a company rather than as an academic lab, we are now positioned to provide a much higher level of support, service, and software R&D to these scientists, their companies, and to the rest of the molecular discovery community."

Based in Austin, Texas, Optive Research was formed in late 2002 with cooperation from The University of Texas at Austin.

"Optive Research is a great example of commercializing technology from an academic laboratory," said Dr. Neil Iscoe, Director of UT's Office of Technology Licensing. "We are pleased to have contributed to the formation of a company which leverages UT research and Austin talent to have an international impact on drug discovery."

Optive Research is being launched with over fifteen proven software products designed to be used by both computational chemists and bench chemists who are engaged in molecular design and discovery research in the pharmaceutical, agrochemical, food science, and "cosmeceutical" industries. Through a 15-year distribution relationship between UT and Tripos Inc. (Nasdaq:TRPS), a leading provider of drug discovery informatics products and chemistry research, a subset of Optive's software portfolio is now in use at nearly every major pharmaceutical research facility in the world.

"Software developed by Optive Research plays a critical role in our customers' molecular discovery processes and in our own collaborative Discovery Research business," said Dr. John McAlister, President & CEO of Tripos. "Tripos has enjoyed a long and valuable relationship with Dr. Pearlman and the University of Texas, and we look forward to continuing our relationship with Optive Research."

In addition to the products distributed by Tripos, Optive's software portfolio also includes many other products developed in close collaboration with leading pharmaceutical and agrochemical companies. These products include the company's Benchware(tm) line of MS Windows-based applications as well as a broad range of Discovery Engines, such as EA-Inventor which "invents" new chemical structures using an evolutionary algorithm. The company will continue to invest heavily in new scientific and software R&D and will be announcing several key technology and marketing partnerships in the coming months.

"My Lab at UT has a hard-earned, international reputation for 'sweating the details' and for being passionate about building great software," Pearlman added. "We are equally committed to building a great company that will contribute significantly to molecular discovery practices worldwide."

About Optive Research

Optive Research develops, markets, and supports scientific software solutions that help companies engaged in molecular discovery research bring beneficial chemical compounds to market faster, while reducing overall cost. Optive's novel software is designed to be used by both computational chemists and experimental, "wet-lab" scientists, enabling them to reduce discovery cycle times and synthesize higher quality lead compounds, thereby achieving more predictable discovery processes. Software developed by Optive Research is currently in use at every major pharmaceutical company and at hundreds of other research sites worldwide. Further information on Optive Research is available at www.optive.com.