GNSC Genaissance Pharmaceuticals (MM)

Genaissance and ParAllele BioScience Sign License and Co-Marketing Agreement - Focusing on More Efficient Clinical Trials - NEW HAVEN, Conn., and SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., April 6 /PRNewswire- FirstCall/ -- Genaissance Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ:GNSC) and privately- held ParAllele BioScience, Inc. announced a joint license and co-marketing agreement to provide genetic screening technology and services for drug development and marketing. Under the terms of the agreement, ParAllele is licensing more than 400 proprietary SNPs from Genaissance. These will be combined with those selected from the public domain, for a total of approximately 1,500 SNPs which are incorporated into a MegAllele(TM) DME-T assay panel developed and marketed by ParAllele. This new panel will provide full coverage of the genetic variation for more than 160 genes that are involved in drug metabolism and transport pathways. Genaissance will be the first company to offer the panel for use in a GLP-compliant environment, for research-use-only applications. "We believe this will be a truly important product as it is designed to allow the most comprehensive analysis of relevant polymorphisms that affect the metabolism and transport of drugs," said Nicholas J. Naclerio, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of ParAllele. "Our proprietary genotyping technology allows us to easily add new variants as they are discovered ensuring that the MegAllele(TM) DME-T assays are always up-to-date." "The new assay should allow us to expand our GLP-compliant clinical service offerings and attract new customers," said Kevin Rakin, President and Chief Executive Officer of Genaissance. "With the release of FDA guidance for using pharmacogenomics in drug development, we see a growing need for cost- effective clinical applications that enable genetic data to be submitted to regulatory authorities." The panel will be used in conjunction with arrays and instrumentation supplied by Affymetrix. About ParAllele BioScience ParAllele BioScience, Inc. is accelerating healthcare breakthroughs by providing comprehensive genetic discovery solutions to the life science research, pharmaceutical and diagnostic sectors. The Company's products and services utilize a multiplexed 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: http://www.parallelebio.com/. About Genaissance Genaissance Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is developing innovative products based on its proprietary pharmacogenomic technology and has a revenue-generating business in DNA and pharmacogenomic products and services. Genaissance also markets its proprietary FAMILION(TM) Test, designed to detect mutations responsible for causing Familial Long QT and Brugada Syndromes, two causes of sudden cardiac death. The Company's product development strategy is focused on drug candidates with promising clinical profiles and finding genetic markers to identify a responsive patient population. This strategy enables Genaissance to leverage existing clinical data and, thus, reduce the costs and risks associated with traditional drug development and increase the probability of clinical success and commercialization. For more information on Genaissance, visit the Company's website at: http://www.genaissance.com/. This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements about the expected growth and development of Genaissance's business, such as Genaissance's ability to detect associations between clinical outcomes and genetic variation, the ability to assess how genetic variation can affect drug response, efforts to build a drug candidate pipeline, the timing and outcome of its genetic testing programs, the timing of its ability to enter into drug development collaborations with pharmaceutical companies, the ability of Genaissance to apply its technologies to the development, marketing and prescribing of drugs and Genaissance's ability to detect associations between clinical outcomes and genetic variation. Such statements are subject to certain factors, risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results, events and performance to differ materially from those referred to in such statements, including, but not limited to, the extent to which genetic markers (haplotypes) are predictive of clinical outcomes and drug efficacy and safety, the attraction of new business and strategic partners, the adoption of our technologies by the pharmaceutical industry, the acceptance of our cardiac tests by health care providers, the timing and success of clinical trials, competition from pharmaceutical, biotechnology and diagnostics companies, the strength of our intellectual property rights and those risks identified in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2004, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 15, 2005, and in other filings we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time. The forward-looking statements contained herein represent the judgment of Genaissance as of the date of this release. Genaissance disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statement. FAMILION(TM) is a trademark of Genaissance Pharmaceuticals, Inc. MegAllele(TM) is a trademark of ParAllele Bioscience, Inc. DATASOURCE: Genaissance Pharmaceuticals, Inc. CONTACT: Kevin Rakin, President & Chief Executive Officer, +1-203-773-1450, , or Carol Reed, M.D., Vice President, Medical Affairs, +1-203-786-3617, , both of Genaissance Pharmaceuticals, Inc.; Rhonda Chiger (investors), +1-917-322-2569, ; Tom Redington (media), Redington, Inc., +1-203-222-7399, ; Nicholas J. Naclerio, PhD, President & CEO, +1-650-228-7411, , or J. Clark Mason, PhD, Senior Director Product Marketing, +1-650-228-7400, ext. 7584, Web site: http://www.genaissance.com/

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