American Home Products

AMERICAN HOME PRODUCTS JOINS GROWING SUBSCRIBER BASE FOR LIFESPAN BIOSCIENCES’ GPCR LOCALIZATION DATABASE

Pharmaceutical Division of American Home Products Marks Seventh Major Company to Adopt LifeSpan’s Proprietary Database of GPCR Gene Targets for Drug Discovery

SEATTLE (November 13, 2001) — LifeSpan Biosciences, Inc., a pioneer and leader in molecular pathology — the profiling and localization of gene and protein expression at the cellular level in normal and diseased tissues — today announced a seventh subscriber for its proprietary G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) database.  The company said that Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories, the pharmaceutical division of American Home Products Corporation (NYSE:AHP), has licensed its rapidly expanding database, which gives subscribers access to information on all major non-olfactory GPCRs for use in identifying and validating new targets for drug discovery.

Under the contract, Wyeth researchers will be able to view all GPCR-related information from a single, integrated bioinformatics platform and to engage in proprietary GPCR expression studies with LifeSpan.  Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

“We are very gratified to add Wyeth to the growing list of major firms who have licensed this database as a unique and valuable resource for identifying and prioritizing the most promising drug discovery targets from among thousands of candidates suggested by their genomics efforts,” says Joseph P. Brown, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of LifeSpan Biosciences.  American Home Products joins previous subscribers Aventis Pharma, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck & Co., Novartis Research Foundation, Pfizer and Sanofi-Synthélabo in using LifeSpan’s database.  Each subscriber selects specific GPCRs for investigation according to that organization’s particular therapeutic focus.

GPCRs are a large family of cell-surface molecules that act as receptors for many biologically active compounds, including nearly 50 percent of currently marketed pharmaceuticals.  Using its extensive bank of human tissue specimens, LifeSpan is generating specific antibodies to GPCRs and using immunohistochemistry to determine the expression and localization of individual GPCRs at the cellular level in a wide range of normal and diseased tissues.  LifeSpan's molecular pathology approach requires highly trained pathologists to interpret staining patterns that reflect the distribution of gene products expressed in various tissues.  As a result, this approach provides a degree of detail that cannot be achieved by high-throughput methods such as gene chips.

LifeSpan has compiled its detailed GPCR expression and localization information in an easy-to-search relational database that includes more than 30,000 high-resolution digital images, integrated with approximately 50,000 public DNA and protein sequences and 70,000 publications.  Because of its unique emphasis on gene expression and localization in normal and diseased human tissues and cell types, LifeSpan's database is of particular value in helping subscribers pinpoint the most productive areas for drug research, identify and validate new targets for drug development, and flag potential side effects early in the drug development process.

“Development of the GPCR database has been a dynamic process marked by the constant addition of new information on gene and protein expression,” says Glenna C. Burmer, M.D., Ph.D., LifeSpan’s executive vice president and chief scientific officer.  “When complete, this resource will contain information on expression and localization of 320 GPCRs across a wide range of tissue types and disease states, as observed in actual human tissue samples.  We are also constructing new databases on other receptor families important to pharmaceutical discovery, as well as databases that tie information on gene and protein expression to specific chronic diseases.  This information represents the next generation of resources for helping to decode the complex relationships between genes, proteins and disease.”

For more information on LifeSpan Biosciences, contact Joseph P. Brown, Ph.D., CEO, at (206) 464-1554 or joe@lsbio.com, or visit www.lsbio.com.

About LifeSpan Biosciences, Inc.

LifeSpan Biosciences, headquartered in Seattle, Washington, is a privately held genomics company founded in 1995 that utilizes proprietary molecular pathology and bioinformatics technology to profile and localize gene expression in normal and diseased human tissues for its more than 50 pharmaceutical company customers in Europe, Asia and North America.  LifeSpan is currently applying its technology and expertise to the production of a comprehensive atlas on the expression of each of the 30,000 human genes in both normal and diseased tissues.  The company’s Web address is www.lsbio.com.