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For Immediate Release, July 31, 2001 Integrative
Proteomics™ TORONTO, ONTARIO (July 31, 2001) – Integrative Proteomics, Inc. (IPI), a leader in the rapid determination of target function and structure to accelerate the discovery of new medicines, today announced that it has raised US $25 million in its second round of financing. This strategic financing brings the total funds raised by the company to more than US $33 million since its inception in August of 2000. This strategic round included IPI strategic alliance partners Aurora Biosciences Corporation (NASDAQ: ABSC), now a wholly owned subsidiary of Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (NASDAQ: VRTX), Bruker AXS, and Bruker Daltonics (NASDAQ: BDAL). Also participating in this round of financing is the Lombard Odier Immunology Fund of Geneva, Switzerland, an existing investor in IPI, as well as two new investors, Genesys Capital Partners Inc. of Toronto, Canada and HBM BioVentures, based in Switzerland (Henri B. Meier, Chairman). Integrative Proteomics intends to use the proceeds to expand its facilities, to enhance instrumentation for its core technologies of mass spectrometry, NMR spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction of proteins in collaboration with the Bruker companies, and to advance its internal chemistry program to accelerate the development of chemical leads to proprietary IPI targets. “The first half of 2001 witnessed significant development of IPI’s capabilities, enabling the achievement of important scientific and commercial milestones,” said Dr. John D. Mendlein, Chairman and CEO. “In the current discriminating fundraising environment, we believe our drug discovery platform and commercialization potential clearly differentiate us from other new companies in the sector. We are especially pleased that our strategic partners and a select group of experienced international biotechnology investors have recognized IPI as a unique opportunity to accelerate the design and development of new medicines. IPI’s proprietary high throughput platform and integrated approach to drug discovery combines the best of genome-wide or target class-wide functional and structural biology to advance chemistry for new medicines.” IPI was founded in August, 2000 by Drs. Aled Edwards, Cheryl Arrowsmith and Jack Greenblatt. The Company’s Pharmaceutical Proteomics™ platform uses a proprietary combination of technologies, including mass spectrometry, NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography to enable a high throughput approach to target production and the determination of target function and structure, using X-ray, NMR and mass spectrometry technologies from Bruker AXS, Bruker BioSpin and Bruker Daltonics, respectively. The Company is also integrating into its Pharmaceutical Proteomics™ Platform the premier discovery capabilities of Aurora Biosciences to enhance IPI’s drug discovery efforts. Under the agreement between the two companies, Aurora will screen IPI targets to generate 3-5 million data points in addition to granting IPI a license for Aurora technology to interrogate pharmaceutical target classes. IPI currently has more than 45 employees, 70 percent of whom hold advanced degrees. The Company is located in Toronto, Canada and plans to open a U.S. site in the near future. For more information, please contact: Integrative
Proteomics, Inc. Contact:
Dr. Joanne E. Harack |