Internet Access to 60,000 Knockout Mouse Clones From OmniBank(R)

THE WOODLANDS, Texas, Jan. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Lexicon Genetics Incorporated today announced the launch of Lexgen.com(TM) (www.lexgen.com), a genomics Internet exchange which contains a substantial portion of Lexicon's OmniBank(R) gene sequence database and library of 60,000 knockout mouse clones for use in determining the function of genes. Through Lexgen.com, researchers at pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and academic institutions throughout the world will be able to conduct Web-based bioinformatics mining of genes at no charge, purchase novel knockout mouse clones from OmniBank, and determine the function of genes in collaboration with Lexicon.

"Genes with potential importance in many human disease states have already been identified in OmniBank and we expect broad Internet access to OmniBank will significantly accelerate the discovery of how genes work and which ones are important to pharmaceutical development," said Arthur T. Sands, M.D., Ph.D., Lexicon's President and Chief Executive Officer. "The nature of the OmniBank functional genomics resource -- its value to a wide range of specialized researchers and its genomic scale -- uniquely lends itself to exploitation through the Internet in collaboration with researchers throughout the world."

Lexgen.com allows registered users to use Lexicon's bioinformatics software to mine the OmniBank database. The company's bioinformatics software uses a Web-based interface to provide access in a relational database to OmniBank gene sequence information with similarity to publicly-available known genes, gene names, associated substance names and abstracts of relevant articles. Lexicon's OmniBank database and mouse clone library presently contains more than 60,000 embryonic stem (ES) cell clones stored in liquid nitrogen. Each is identified by DNA sequence from the altered gene stored in a relational database. Every OmniBank ES cell clone may be grown into a knockout mouse, a mouse whose DNA has been mutated to eliminate the function of or "knock out" a specified gene. Knockout mice have become the preferred method, in both academia and industry, for the study of gene function in mammals, and provide valuable predictive information as to which gene products are valid drug targets or therapeutic proteins for pharmaceutical development. OmniBank is based on a research breakthrough in gene trapping technology developed by Lexicon scientists at the company's research laboratories in The Woodlands, Texas. The technology was originally published in the journal Nature in April 1998.

"Our bioinformatics software combines a user-friendly interface that allows Lexgen.com users to search by keyword or DNA sequence," said Christophe Person, Lexicon's Vice President of Informatics. "The software also includes an abstract navigator that allows users to search through abstracts of relevant articles based on keywords and substance names relating to genes with high similarity to OmniBank clones."

"Lexgen.com allows scientists to discover the genetic basis of human diseases more rapidly by providing a unique Internet source of tens of thousands of novel knockout mouse clones that can be used for determining the functions of the genes identified in the human genome," said Brian Zambrowicz, Ph.D., Lexicon's Vice President of Research. "Finding the best targets for drug discovery among the estimated 100,000 genes contained in the human genome is a task of such complexity and scale that it requires the power of the Internet and the combined efforts of leading research scientists throughout the world."

The advent of genomics and upcoming completion of the Human Genome Project represent an opportunity for the development of drugs that are more effective and have fewer side effects than the currently available treatments, as well as drugs that address medical needs for which there are presently no effective treatments. Most drugs on the market today interact with a total of about 500 specific protein targets, each of which is encoded by the sequence of a gene. While estimates of the total number of potential drug targets encoded within the human genome vary, many experts believe that genomics research may discover between 5,000 and 15,000 new targets for pharmaceutical development. Consequently, the genomics explosion of DNA sequence information represents a significant opportunity for drug discovery. The most pressing new challenge for drug discovery is the identification of a targeted gene's function and its disease relevance. Lexicon believes that a cost effective solution to this challenge requires the redefinition of drug discovery paradigm in the genome era by systematically determining the in vivo function of large numbers of genes at the outset of the drug discovery process.

All no-fee subscribers to Lexgen.com will have access to the portion of the OmniBank database that represents known human and mouse genes. Corporate subscribers that pay access fees and academic researchers who enter into collaborations with Lexicon can also obtain access to the new gene discoveries contained within OmniBank. Lexicon offers a range of terms for the purchase of knockout mice from OmniBank. These include reduced rate programs for academic researchers who grant Lexicon certain rights to license inventions or receive royalties on products discovered using OmniBank mice.

Lexicon Genetics Incorporated (www.lexicon-genetics.com) is a pioneer in the design, development and application of high-throughput gene trapping and mutagenesis technologies for gene discovery and functional genomics. Lexicon employs its proprietary Human Gene Trap(TM) database, OmniBank(R) library of gene-trapped mouse clones and its web-based bioinformatics software in an integrated technology platform for drug discovery and drug target validation. Lexicon has an agreement with Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. for access to the Human Gene Trap and OmniBank databases. Lexicon also has commercial OmniBank alliances with ZymoGenetics/Novo Nordisk and DuPont Pharmaceuticals. Lexicon also provides access to a substantial portion of OmniBank through its www.lexgen.com genomics Internet exchange to subscribers at leading research institutions throughout the world. Lexicon Genetics Incorporated, founded in 1995, is a privately-held company based in The Woodlands, Texas, U.S.A.