PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANIES USE GENOMIC INFORMATION IN R&D.

Celera Genomics (NYSE:CRA), Rockville, Md., an Applera Corporation business, has announced that Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., one of Japan's largest pharmaceutical companies, has signed a five-year subscription agreement with Celera. Yamanouchi researchers will access the Celera Discovery System(TM) (CDS) to use Celera's database products, bioinformatics systems, and other discovery tools in their research. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

"We are pleased that the scientists and clinicians who develop new therapeutics at Yamanouchi, a world-class research-based pharmaceutical company, will now be able to harness the genomic knowledge and bioinformatics expertise that Celera provides," said J. Craig Venter, Ph.D., Celera's president and chief scientific officer. "We look forward to enabling Yamanouchi to further its R&D efforts in adult and geriatric diseases through its CDS subscription."

The Celera Discovery System is an integrated, web-based platform that enables users to leverage Celera's computational tools, super-computing power, and the genomic and biological databases to advance the discovery process for researchers worldwide.

"Now that the human genome sequences have been elucidated and our knowledge of genes is beginning to expand, one of the most important challenges for pharmaceutical companies is how to efficiently use genomic information in R&D activities to strengthen their new product pipeline," said Toichi Takenaka,Yamanouchi's chief executive officer. "We believe that Celera's data, infrastructure, and tools including the SNP Reference Database should support our efforts in the discovery and characterization of human genetic variation involved in disease, drug efficacy, and drug toxicity. Having access to the accurate, annotated mouse genome should also allow our researchers to accelerate the important discoveries in the disease to gene approach in Yamanouchi's molecular-based drug discovery process."

About Yamanouchi

Yamanouchi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., established in 1923 and headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is the third largest pharmaceutical company in Japan. Yamanouchi is expanding its business base to Europe, the United States and Asia and employs more than 9,000 people worldwide. As a research-based developer, manufacturer and marketer, Yamanouchi has introduced several world-class drugs to the international market, including the H2 antagonist, famotidine; the calcium antagonist, nicardipine; and tamsulosin, a treatment for functional symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia. Yamanouchi is enthusiastic about entering into strategic tie-ups with bioventure companies and academia in various fields such as bioinformatics (drug discovery research using IT), proteomics (systematic search for target proteins for drug discovery), and SNPs (utilization of gene information aiming at tailor-made medicine). Yamanouchi is accelerating the development of new drugs through alliances with a wide range of partners.

About Celera

Applera Corporation comprises two operating groups. The Celera Genomics Group, an integrated source of genomic and related medical information headquartered in Rockville, Md., is evolving to become a next-generation diagnostic and therapeutic discovery company. Celera intends to leverage its industrialized approach to biology to develop platforms for enabling these new discoveries both for subscribers and for its own internal product development. The Applied Biosystems Group (NYSE:ABI) develops and markets instrument-based systems, reagents, software, and contract services to the life science industry and research community. Applied Biosystems is headquartered in Foster City, Calif., and reported sales of $1.4 billion during fiscal 2000.

For more information, call 240/453-3343 or visit http://www.celera.com or http://www.applera.com.