VARIAGENICS Awarded Patent for Computational Identification of Gene Polymorphisms.

Business/Technology Editors & Health/Medical Writers

BIOWIRE2K

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BW HealthWire)--June 6, 2002

VARIAGENICS, Inc. (Nasdaq: VGNX), an emerging molecular diagnostics company, today announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued U.S. Patent No. 6,401,043 titled "Variance Scanning Method for Identifying Gene Sequence Variances." This patent describes a high throughput computational method for reliably identifying genetic polymorphisms (also referred to as SNPs) by analysis of DNA sequence databases. The method has been used at VARIAGENICS to identify polymorphisms in thousands of genes at a fraction of the cost of any experimental method. Those polymorphisms, together with polymorphisms the Company has identified by conventional experimental methods, constitute an essential resource for the discovery and development of DNA-based molecular diagnostic tests, and are fueling the Company's efforts to commercialize these tests, eventually enabling individualized selection of optimal treatment for cancer and other diseases.

"This new patent protects a competitive element of our polymorphism database, and adds value for our current and prospective commercial partners in molecular diagnostics," said Jay Mohr, President and Chief Business Officer of VARIAGENICS. "The computational approaches described in this patent have greatly enhanced the speed with which VARIAGENICS has identified SNPs."

Background on the Patent

VARIAGENICS' development of molecular diagnostic product candidates begins with selection of candidate genes that affect the pharmacological response to a drug or other treatment, followed by discovery and analysis of DNA polymorphisms in those genes. The method described in the new patent has been most useful for early identification of DNA polymorphisms in candidate genes. A subset of those polymorphisms (candidate markers) are then tested for correlation with clinical trial outcomes, and, pending analysis, can be incorporated into a molecular diagnostic test for further study and possible commercialization.

"This patent covers a widely used family of methods that we and others have exploited in the past for efficient polymorphism discovery. These methods allowed us to discover a large number of DNA polymorphisms with modest effort by exploiting DNA sequence information in public databases. Our expectation is that the future and continued use of these efficient methods will be licensed from VARIAGENICS," said Vincent P. Stanton, Jr., M.D., Vice President and Principal Scientist at VARIAGENICS, and a co-author of the patent.

The VARIAGENICS patent describes a proprietary suite of computational algorithms that are applied to a collection of overlapping DNA sequences obtained from different subjects. Typically when such sequences - for example, expressed sequence tags, or ESTs - are compared it is difficult to identify true polymorphisms because the frequency of DNA sequencing errors exceeds the occurrence of true DNA polymorphisms. The "sequence scanning" aspect of the method allows researchers at VARIAGENICS and its partners to efficiently identify potentially valuable polymorphisms by distinguishing them from sequencing errors or other experimental artifacts. These SNPs may subsequently be analyzed for their potential as genetic markers that can be correlated with disease risk, prognosis, or response to a specific drug or other therapy.

In addition to Dr. Stanton, patent authors include: R. Mark Adams, Ph.D., Vice President of Bioinformatics, VARIAGENICS, Inc. and David Steffen, Ph.D., President, Biomedical Computing, Inc. The new patent brings the number of U.S. patents issued to or licensed by VARIAGENICS to 24.

VARIAGENICS, Inc. applies its pharmacogenomic technologies to the discovery, development and commercialization of personalized drugs and companion molecular diagnostic products. Using a drug pathway approach, the Company identifies therapeutically important genetic markers, including SNPs, haplotypes and, for cancer studies, loss-of-heterozygosity (LOH) and other related indicators. This information is then applied to clinical programs to enhance drugs in development, and ultimately to the creation of molecular diagnostic products for predicting patient response to drugs.

For more information please visit the Company's website at www.VARIAGENICS.com. This press release may contain forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the effect of pharmacogenomics on therapeutic outcomes and the delivery of healthcare and the role that the Company will play in the field of pharmacogenomics and the development of molecular diagnostic products. Such statements are based on the current expectations of management and are subject to certain factors, risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, events and performance to differ materially from those referred to or implied in such statements. These risks are identified in VARIAGENICS' Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2001. The Company does not intend to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of this release to conform these statements to actual results or to changes in our expectations, except as required by law.