Collaboration to expand HCS technology throughout China underway

Shanghai, China and Pittsburgh, September 2, 2004. The National Center for Drug Screening (NCDS) located in Shanghai, China and Cellomics, Inc. of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.A today announced a joint collaboration aimed at expanding the application of High Content Screening (HCS) in China.  Affiliated with the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Center is a key national technology innovation base in drug discovery and development.

Cellomics, Inc., a privately held company, is recognized as the creator of and market leader in HCS, providing a unique cell-based platform to its global clients in pharmaceutical, biotechnology and academic institutions.

“We are very pleased to work with Cellomics as a strategic partner in the establishment of an HCS program at the Center,” stated Dr. Ming-Wei Wang, Director of the NCDS. “By including the ArrayScan® HCS Reader with all of the Cellomics’ software, reagents and expertise in the implementation of HCS, we are able to quickly execute our strategic plan for including high content cell-based assays in our drug discovery and development efforts,“ continued Dr. Wang.

“Our collaboration with Dr. Wang and the NCDS is critically important for Cellomics,” replied Daniel J. Calvo, President and CEO of Cellomics. “Through this joint effort with China’s leading drug discovery facility, we can expand our global leadership position in HCS into China and the surrounding region. We look forward to assisting this world-class laboratory in incorporating our technology into their research programs,” continued Calvo.

About NCDS

The National Center for Drug Screening was jointly set up by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Shanghai Municipality Government. It offers a wide-range of drug screening services and technical consultations to universities, research institutions and commercial entities across China. Using its advanced technology platforms and high quality services, and through external collaborations with biopharmaceutical research and development institutions, the NCDS is playing an indispensable role in the adequate utilization of compound resources nationwide and promotion of innovative drug development. Focusing on major diseases that affect the Chinese population (such as cancer, central nervous system diseases, metabolic disorders and infectious diseases, etc.), the NCDS is actively developing internationally advanced drug screening assays, performing large-scale compound library screening and conducting downstream studies. The establishment of the NCDS is an important milestone in modernizing China's drug research and innovation system. For more information, please visit www.screen.org.cn.

About Cellomics

Cellomics, Inc. is automating drug discovery through a unique, cell-based assay platform that addresses the needs of Drug Discovery and Systems Biology groups by offering complete systems for High Content Screening.  The platform includes HCS instrumentation (both fixed end-point and kinetic systems), informatics, cellular image analysis software (BioApplications), fluorescent reagents, kits, cell lines, and multiparametric assays.  When applied to early drug discovery, this platform is proving to reduce the 'idea-to-discovery' cycle time in drug discovery, while increasing the probability of the therapeutic success of leads as well as enhancing throughput in systems biology and basic research. Cellomics’ proprietary platforms, including the ArrayScanand KineticScan® HCS Readers, along with BioApplications software and High Content Informatics (HCi™) suite, are in use at multiple sites within all of the top fifteen pharmaceutical companies, as well as leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and academic centers globally. For more information about Cellomics, visit our website at www.cellomics.com.

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