Embargoed until 7 a.m., Saturday, Sept. 13, 1997

CONTACTS:

Milestones
Lorraine Ruff
206.214.0050 T
888.210.6277 Pager
[email protected]

Paracel
Linda Heidtke
818-666-6688 x674 T
800-724-3624 pin 1676207 Pager
[email protected]

PARACEL ANNOUNCES THE WORLDíS FASTEST COMPUTER FOR DRUG DISCOVERY

GeneMatcher provides critical missing link for genomic research

Hilton Head, S.C., Sept. 13, 1997ó Paracel Inc. today announced a new class of scientific computing for drug discovery that accelerates the analysis of genes that cause disease by as much as 1,000 times over traditional computing alternatives. The GeneMatcher
computer system will be introduced at the Ninth Genome Sequencing and Analysis Conference, Hilton Head, S.C., Sept. 13-16. GeneMatcher is the first computer designed with custom Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) technology to specifically analyze genetic information. GeneMatcher precisely analyzes similarities and differences of DNA or protein sequences in relation to other sequences of known genetic location and function. These comparisons provide researchers with critical insight towards identification of genomic drug targets and potential therapies. "With global genomic databases doubling in size every 10 months, high-throughput data analysis is a critical missing link for biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies involved in drug discovery,î says Kwang-I Yu, Ph.D., CEO of Paracel. ìResearchers no longer have to settle for less than optimal methods when searching for new pharmaceutical products." Paracelís existing customers see a large role for the GeneMatcher technology in their bioinformatics departments.

ìGenomic research laboratories are moving from a craftsman to a factory model, and this requires new high-throughput computational tools," says R. Mark Adams Ph.D., director of bioinformatics at AlphaGene Inc., a functional genomics company in Woburn, Mass., and a Paracel customer. ìCurrently we have to perform extensive planning to work around computing bottlenecks. The GeneMatcher system will allow AlphaGene to perform ëwhat ifí bioinformatics without waiting,î Adams says. ìWe perceive that GeneMatcher will offer us a competitive ëtime-to-marketí advantage in delivering drug targets to our pharmaceutical partners.î

Tim Hunkapiller, Ph.D., assistant professor of molecular biotechnology at the University of Washington, was one of the first scientists to recognize the need for powerful computers in biology during the late 1980s while at Caltech in Pasadena. "GeneMatcher has arrived at a time when the requirement for high-throughput sequence analysis has never been greater,î Hunkapiller says. ìGeneMatcher is essential if genomic research is to continue at an ever-increasing pace.î Spanning a significant, two-year engineering effort, Paracel will begin production shipments of GeneMatcher the first quarter of 1998. ìThe GeneMatcher chip, with a complexity of over 2.2 million transistors, is the first custom ASIC commercially deployed for genomic data analysis,î says Richard J. Diephuis, Ph.D., vice president of engineering at Paracel. ìBy combining 6,912 GeneMatcher processors into a single deskside package, we will provide researchers the ability to analyze genomic information at speeds never before possible.î [Editorís note: a transistor is a measure of silicon chip density. By comparison, a general purpose computing Pentium chip by Intel has 3.3 million transistors.] The GeneMatcher system is a plug-and-play computation server that can be connected to any network. It is delivered with BioView
Tool Kit , a suite of software tools from Paracel, providing both a web-based or UNIX command line interface. This allows the product to be easily used and integrated into any bioinformatics environment. The GeneMatcher chip is designed to specifically analyze genetic information. The custom ASIC approach allows for performance that has not been achieved by others using off-the-shelf Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) programmed to perform sequence analysis functions. Combined with Paracelís existing Fast Data FinderÆ(FDF) technology for text analysis, the GeneMatcher system architecture includes capability for sequence annotation searching. Paracel Inc., founded in 1992, provides high performance text and genomic data analysis systems for pharmaceutical, biotechnology and government markets. Paracel is a privately held company located in Pasadena, Calif. Additional background information on Paracel is available on the Internet at www.paracel.com.

###

Æ Fast Data Finder and FDF are registered trademarks of TRW Inc. licensed exclusively to Paracel Inc.