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Nick Naclerio

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PARALLELE BIOSCIENCE AND ROCHE DEMONTRATE NEW APPROACH FOR DISCOVERING DISEASE-ASSOCIATED GENES

New Genes Discovered for Type 2 Diabetes Using ParAllele's Technologies

Cold Spring Harbor, NY; May 18, 2004 - ParAllele BioScience, Inc., a provider of complete solutions for the comprehensive study of genetic variation, reported the completion of a study with Roche in type 2 diabetes that demonstrates a new paradigm for finding disease-associated genes. Leveraging ParAllele's proprietary single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) discovery and genotyping technologies, the study conducted by the two companies was among the largest of its kind ever performed, and uncovered several new genetic risk factors for diabetes and confirmed certain genetic risk factors found by others. Tom Willis, Ph.D., ParAllele's Chief Scientific Officer and a company founder, presented on the methodology used to perform this collaborative study at the 17th Annual Meeting on the Biology of Genomes, recently held at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories.

In the Roche-funded study, ParAllele used its proprietary Mismatch Repair Detection SNP discovery technology to systematically identify all common and rare (down to one percent frequency) SNPs among functional regions of a large number of candidate genes in a type 2 diabetes population. The SNPs discovered represented more than twice the number of known SNPs in those genes available through databases. After performing SNP discovery, ParAllele used its MegAllele SNP genotyping platform to analyze hundreds of diabetic patients and controls to detect associations between the complete set of SNPs and diabetes. In addition to confirming several previously associated genes, ParAllele discovered several new disease-associated genes. Many of the disease associated SNPs result in changes to the amino acid sequences of proteins known to be involved in the metabolism of sugar and may have direct functional relevance to diabetes. The discovery of these disease-associated SNPs provides new insights into diabetes and may contribute to the long-term development of new therapies or risk assessment tests for type 2 diabetes.

"We were delighted to be able to make a contribution to the understanding of diabetes through this collaboration with Roche", said Nick Naclerio, President and CEO of ParAllele BioScience. "We look forward to applying our technology and approach in even larger and more comprehensive studies addressing other serious disease areas."

ParAllele and Roche announced their collaboration on this project to discover and screen common and rare SNPs associated with type 2 diabetes in September 2003.

Understanding the role of SNP's in desease

Complex diseases are caused by a combination of genetic and environmental risk factors. Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (or SNPs) are the most common form of genetic variation responsible for differences in disease susceptibility and drug response. Linking SNPs with disease risks in order to understand the role of genetics in complex diseases, identify new targets for therapeutic intervention, better assess drug response differences between patients and create improved diagnostics has been a major focus of the genetics research community. To date, public and private sequencing efforts have only discovered a fraction of the most common variations found among healthy individuals due to the sheer volume of genetic information, the prohibitive costs associated with such large-scale research and the accuracy of commonly available technologies. ParAllele has developed a new approach for SNP discovery, SNP genotyping (or screening) and variation analysis that allows researchers to comprehensively discover all of the common and rare SNPs in a given patient cohort and to cost effectively test all of those SNPs for disease association. The company is deploying its innovations through collaborative discovery partnerships, as well as through the development and commercialization of out-of-the-box SNP genotyping solutions.

About ParAllele Bioscience

ParAllele Bioscience is accelerating healthcare breakthroughs by providing comprehensive genetic discovery solutions to the life science research, pharmaceutical and diagnostic sectors. Its products and services utilize a unique lab-in-a-tube approach that leverages novel biochemical processes rather than complex instrumentation to discover and analyze minute variations in the human genome. The understanding of how subtle genetic variations contribute to disease risk, prognosis and drug response will lead to new and more effective drugs, predictive diagnosis, and the ability to better tailor therapies to individual patients. Headquartered in South San Francisco, California, ParAllele BioScience was founded by a team of leading researchers from the Stanford Genome Technology Center and Uppsala University. The company's investors include Abingworth Management, Index Ventures, Mohr Davidow Ventures, and Versant Ventures. For more information about ParAllele, please visit the company's website at: parallelebio.com.

About Roche

Hoffmann-La Roche Inc. (Roche), based in Nutley, N.J., a U.S. pharmaceutical affiliate of F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, a leading research-based healthcare company that ranks among the world's leaders in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. Roche discovers, develops, manufactures and markets numerous important prescription drugs that enhance people's health, well-being and quality of life. Among the companys areas of therapeutic interest are dermatology; genitourinary disease; infectious diseases, including influenza; inflammation, including arthritis and osteoporosis; metabolic diseases, including obesity and diabetes; neurology; oncology; transplantation; vascular diseases; and virology, including HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C. For more information on the Roche pharmaceuticals business in the United States, visit the company's website at: http://www.rocheusa.com.
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