Bayer HealthCare AG Acquires Bayer Healthcare, Biological Products (CA)'s TrueClone(TM) cDNAs For Functional Analyses

ROCKVILLE, Md., March 13 /PRNewswire/ -- OriGene Technologies Inc. today announced that Bayer HealthCare AG has acquired access to OriGene's collection of authentic full-length cDNA clones.

"Having access to a comprehensive array of cDNA clones is of utmost importance in today's gene or protein-based research labs," said Ulf Bruggemeier, Director, Target Research of Bayer HealthCare, Pharmaceuticals. "We believe that the OriGene cDNA collections are uniquely able to provide us with the necessary content to support the drug-related research and diagnostic projects across Bayer HealthCare."

Although there are many different efforts to collect every human full- length cDNA clones, OriGene's TrueClone Collection is the most comprehensive to date. OriGene cDNA clones are expression-ready, authentic full-length cDNA plasmids for use in target and lead identification and validation. The cDNAs allow scientists to easily query the roles of genes in disease phenotypes and pathways. These cDNA clones have been used by most leading pharmaceutical companies and research institutes providing numerous discoveries. One example of the power of broad collections of cDNAs in uniform expression systems can be seen in Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., 2005, pp 1927-32.

"OriGene's mission is to build the most comprehensive collection of human full-length cDNAs in expression ready vectors and to make this collection available to all researchers for systematic studies of human gene functions," said Karl Kovacs PhD, Vice President of Alliance Management at OriGene. "We are glad to see our clones involved in the highly innovative research at Bayer HealthCare."

About Bayer HealthCare AG

Bayer HealthCare, a subsidiary of Bayer AG, is one of the world's leading, innovative companies in the health care and medical products industry based in Leverkusen/Germany. In 2004, the Bayer HealthCare subgroup generated sales amounting to some 8.5 billion Euro. Bayer HealthCare employed 35,300 people worldwide in 2004.

The company combines the global activities of the divisions Animal Health, Consumer Care, Diabetes Care, Diagnostics and Pharmaceuticals. Since January 1, 2006 the new Pharmaceutical Division consists of the former Biological Products and Pharmaceutical Division and now comprises three business units: Hematology/Cardiology, Oncology and Primary Care. Bayer HealthCare's aim is to discover and manufacture innovative products that will improve human and animal health worldwide. The products enhance well-being and quality of life by diagnosing, preventing and treating diseases.

About OriGene Technologies

OriGene provides innovative technologies for large-scale gene function analyses. OriGene's flagship product is the TrueClone Collection, a searchable source of over 24,000 human full-length cDNA clones suitable for transfection and protein expression. More information about OriGene Technologies, the FlagArray(s) and their other products can be found at the company's web site at http://www.origene.com.

OriGene Technologies Inc.

CONTACT: Rich Hamer, Ph.D., Business Development of OriGene Technologies,+1-301 802-2269, rhamer@origene.com

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