Jan. 4, 2001, San Diego, CA—Imgenex Corp., a privately-held San Diego-based biotechnology company, Thursday announced that they have acquired the exclusive North American rights for sales and distribution of Histo(TM)-arrays, a large collection of cell, tissue and tumor sample arrays produced by SuperBioChip Laboratories of Seoul, Korea.

Each sample array consists of a glass slide containing up to 60 formalin- or methanol-fixed, paraffin-embedded sections of normal tissues, cells or tumor samples. Histo™-arrays are available containing multiple samples of various human or rat normal tissues and of various human tumors, either different tumor types within one array or multiple patient samples of one tumor type on each slide. Each slide is accompanied by information, such as patient age and gender, about each tissue section, and instructions for screening. Histo™-arrays can be used for screening of protein expression using immunohistochemistry, or for screening of gene expression via in situ hybridization or PCR or gene amplification or rearrangements via fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH).

Use of these arrays saves researchers considerable expense and countless hours in the acquisition and preparation of multiple tissue samples,'' said Sujay K. Singh, Ph.D., president and CEO of Imgenex.

"Unlike some other tissue arrays, the amount of tissue contained in each sample on a Histo(TM)-array allows scientists to carefully examine multiple cells within each section and compare not only dozens of different patient samples in one experiment, but also differences within each tissue section. We are convinced that the use of Histo™-arrays can enhance the ability of researchers to more quickly and efficiently profile gene and protein expression in relevant disease samples, leading to discoveries of diagnostic or therapeutic importance.''

About Imgenex
Imgenex Corp. develops and commercializes novel reagents for the scientific study of human biology and disease and for the production of new diagnostic assays and potential therapies of such diseases. These novel reagents include antibodies, gene and protein expression systems, and arrays of various cells and tissues for use in studies of functional genomics. Areas of biological interest at Imgenex include cancer, apoptosis (programmed cell death), molecular signaling pathways, cellular aging, and metabolic and infectious diseases.

About SuperBioChip Laboratories
Superbiochips Laboratories developed tissue array method and are producing tissue array slides and doing services using tissue array. Superbiochips is owned and operated by pathologists. Recently, they obtained large amount of human tissue material in paraffin embedded state with computerized data. The present tissue array product is mainly tumor tissues. The fetal tissue array, cell line array and diseased tissue array will be released soon.

Additional information about the company and the complete line of Histo™-arrays and other research products can be found at their Web site,www.imgenex.com.

Contact:

Imgenex Corp., San Diego
Sujay K. Singh, Ph.D. / Kerry M. Barnhart, Ph.D.
858/642-0978