Molecular Informatics, Inc. In November 1996, MDL Information Systems, Inc. signed an exclusive agreement with Molecular Informatics, Inc., Santa Fe, New Mexico, to market bioinformatics software and databases designed to speed development of the next generation of pharmaceuticals, agricultural control agents, and gene-based therapies. Molecular Informatics develops tools that automate genomics research. MDL will incorporate Molecular Informatics' BioMerge, a genomic data management product, into its line of systems for high-throughput discovery. Senator Pete V. Domenici Praises Agreement U.S. Senator Pete V. Domenici of New Mexico, who has long supported development of bioinformatics technology both nationally and in his home state, said the agreement with MDL will spur progress in the field. According to Domenici, "The agreement between these two companies signals real and very rapid progress in the development of Molecular Informatics. This new alliance will ensure that critical advances in bioinformatics will be made with ample resources to achieve success in genomic research." "The pharmaceutical industry has committed over $1 billion to generate genomic information," said Steve Goldby, chairman and CEO of MDL Information Systems, Inc. "The market for tools to interpret that information and create new drugs will be significantly larger than our current market in chemistry. MDL has long provided chemists with the industry's most widely used scientific information management software. This agreement with Molecular Informatics enables us to serve the needs of research and molecular biologists with the same high standard. MDL's product offering now spans the entire spectrum of drug discovery: chemistry, biological screening, and genomics. MDL's ISIS is the industry's most widely used system for managing chemical information. MDL SCREEN is the only industrial strength tool for controlling the screening process and BioMerge completes the picture by giving biologists the strongest, most comprehensive system for managing gene sequence data." "Our partnership with MDL enables Molecular Informatics to integrate genomics information with chemistry and high-throughput screening information in a way that supports our customers' laboratory processes," said Dr. Edward Cantrall, president and CEO of Molecular Informatics. "In addition, Molecular Informatics will benefit from MDL's experience in the marketplace and will give us the ability to deliver our products to the broadest possible research market. We see this as a highly beneficial long term partnership." About Molecular Informatics, Inc. Molecular Informatics, Inc., a privately held company, is a pioneer in the design of data management software that automates the integration, management, and analysis of DNA sequence data from gene discovery, genome characterization, gene expression, and population variation studies. Based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Molecular Informatics is developing products that will establish a data management, integration, and communication standard for handling genomic information. The company is a spinoff of the National Center for Genome Resources, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

National Center for Supercomputing Applications In December 1996, MDL Information Systems, Inc. acquired exclusive rights to market the Bioinformatics Workbench, an intranet-based "virtual laboratory" that delivers data and computing tools vital to genomic research. Developed at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) at the University of Illinois, the Bioinformatics Workbench provides an environment that integrates the many disparate genome-related tools and massive databases emanating from sequencing efforts on many plant and animal species, including the Human Genome Project. "Today, research on everything from the common cold to cancer is heavily dependent on studies of genetic sequences and protein structures," said Steven Goldby, chairman and CEO of MDL Information Systems, Inc. "Biologists have created a wealth of data in this area, but they have not had a common way of searching for data, swapping information, analyzing sequences, and determining gene function. The Bioinformatics Workbench will be a major unifying force in the research community. With it, MDL now can offer researchers a common language and a common ground for biocomputing. We are very pleased to market this impressive system from the NCSA." "This is point-and-click biology," said Professor Shankar Subramaniam, University of Illinois, who is also a senior research scientist with the NCSA. "Until recently, many scientists tried to get around the incompatibilities among databases by learning every relevant software program. Or they had to wait days for results to return from an outside lab. The Bioinformatics Workbench ties together and leverages the software that's already out there. It represents a model for Web-based computing. MDL understands this technology and its implications for the research community. They are an ideal marketing partner." "Eli Lilly has supported efforts over several years at the NCSA, notably in Dr. Subramaniam's group, to develop open systems-based collaborative tools," said Riaz Abdulla, senior information advisor, Eli Lilly and Company. "The Bioinformatics Workbench is the first step in defining the size and shape of a bioinformatics open system. We see its system architecture as commensurate with our 'systems forward strategy' and our global technology architecture. This holds the promise of a global integration allowing 'discovery without walls via information without boundaries.'" About the National Center for Supercomputing Applications The National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA), a unit of the University of Illinois, is dedicated to advancing leading-edge technologies in information and high-performance computing and communications in academia and industry. The center receives support from the National Science Foundation, other government agencies, NCSA's corporate sponsors, the state of Illinois, and the University of Illinois. The Bioinformatics Workbench was developed by the Computational Biology Group of the NCSA. The development was directed by Shankar Subramaniam and his team of James Fenton, Eric Jakobsson, Curt Jamison, Mark Stupar, and Roger Unwin. The version available free to the academic community is called the Biology Workbench, and is accessible via the URL: http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu.