-- Knockout Mouse Production and Functional Genomics Analysis --

THE WOODLANDS, Texas, Jan. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Lexicon Genetics Incorporated announced today a multi-year functional genomics research agreement with The R.W. Johnson Pharmaceutical Research Institute (PRI), a Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) company, under Lexicon's OmniBank(R) Internet Universal(TM) program. PRI will have access to mice from Lexicon's OmniBank library of knockout mouse clones for use in determining the function of genes that represent potential drug targets. PRI will also have access to Lexicon's custom knockout mouse program for the engineering of genetic alterations directed at specific drug targets, including alterations that allow the conditional regulation of targeted genes, and to Lexicon's Seek Target Validation (S-T-V(TM)) program to determine the function and pharmaceutical relevance of selected genes. Financial terms of the arrangement were not disclosed.

Lexicon's OmniBank database and mouse clone library presently contains more than 60,000 embryonic stem (ES) cell clones stored in liquid nitrogen, each identified by DNA sequence from altered genes stored in a relational database. Each OmniBank ES cell clone may be grown into a knockout mouse, a mouse whose DNA has been mutated to eliminate the function of, or "knockout," 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 gene trapping technology developed by Lexicon scientists at the company's research laboratories in the Woodlands, Texas.

Lexicon's OmniBank library is complemented by its gene targeting technology for the creation of custom knockout mice with genetic alterations directed at specific drug targets of interest. Lexicon generates mice in which the gene of interest has been knocked out or conditionally knocked out (using recombinase technologies), and mice in which a point mutation has been introduced in the gene of interest. Lexicon's collaborators receive the benefit of the key patented enabling technologies for the development of custom knockout mice which are owned by or licensed to Lexicon, including positive/negative selection, Cre/lox and isogenic DNA, as well as Lexicon's proprietary lambda KOS system.

Under Lexicon's Seek Target Validation (S-T-V) program, Lexicon scientists analyze knockout mice to determine if a gene may play a role in growth, weight gain, blood cell production, behavior or metabolism. The resulting information can then used to direct drug discovery efforts based on genes discovered in the human genome.

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 Internet-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. In addition to The R.W. Johnson Pharmaceutical Research Institute, Lexicon has commercial OmniBank alliances with G.D. Searle & Co., ZymoGenetics/Novo Nordisk and DuPont Pharmaceuticals. Access to a substantial portion of the OmniBank database is available to researchers at pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and academic institutions throughout the world through Lexicon's www.lexgen.com genomics Internet exchange. Lexicon Genetics Incorporated, founded in 1995, is a privately-held company based in The Woodlands, Texas, U.S.A.