Invitrogen Enters into Key Licensing Agreements to Supply Gateway Technology and Clones

Business Wire, Sept 29, 2004

CARLSBAD, Calif. -- Agreements Highlight Emergence of Gateway(R) as Standard for Leaders in Genomic Research Worldwide

Invitrogen Corporation (Nasdaq:IVGN), a provider of essential life science technologies for disease research and drug discovery, today announced that it has entered into new licensing agreements to supply Gateway(R) Technology and clones to major genomic research centers on two continents. These include Open Biosystems, a U.S.-based distributor of genomic and proteomic research products; the UK Medical Research Council (MRC), the national organization funded by the UK government to promote medical research; and RZPD, or Ressourcenzentrum fur Genomforschung, the not-for-profit German service center for genomics and proteomics research, which has one of the largest clone collections in the world.

Gateway(R) Technology provides a platform that allows a single entry clone to be inserted into as many expression vectors as needed to study its function in a variety of ways without repeating the initial cloning. This reduces the possibility of errors and inconsistencies between studies, and more importantly accelerates research. With these new agreements, Gateway(R) is now being used by more than 80 percent of the world's major clone distributors, enabling commercial distribution of Gateway(R) clones developed by academic and government researchers worldwide.

"Invitrogen's policy will help researchers, laboratories and research institutions to share some of the basic tools of post-genomic biological research," said Dr. Martin Yuille, Chief Scientist at MRC geneservice. "Gateway(R) Technology is a flexible method for cloning and subcloning. I am pleased we are now able to distribute these clones globally and so help accelerate progress."

The "open architecture" policy announced last November allows government and academic researchers to create and distribute clones made with Gateway(R) Technology without royalties or licensing fees.

"We chose Gateway(R) Technology early on, because it is a flexible cloning system that allows automated cloning and sub-cloning without the need for re-verifying the clone material after each step," said Dr. Bernhard Korn, Chief Research Officer, RZPD. "Gateway's open architecture makes the system ideal to store the DNA fragments, sequences and other resources that we make available via our gene-based search tool, GenomeCube(TM), and is highly adapted to high throughput handling."

Additional licensing agreements will be announced in the coming weeks. Financial terms of the agreements were not disclosed.

"As more institutions move toward adopting Gateway(R) Technology for their research initiatives, we understand that making this prevailing technology even more accessible is imperative to our business," explained Gregory T. Lucier, Chairman and CEO of Invitrogen. "The Gateway(R) open architecture was the start of our drive toward streamlining access to key industry technologies, and more will follow as we continue to play our part as the preeminent partner in research."

About Invitrogen

Invitrogen Corporation (Nasdaq:IVGN) provides products and services that support academic and government research institutions and pharmaceutical and biotech companies worldwide in their efforts to improve the human condition. The company provides essential life science technologies for disease research, drug discovery, and commercial bio-production. Invitrogen's own research and development efforts are focused on breakthrough innovation in all major areas of biological discovery including functional genomics, proteomics, bioinformatics and cell biology -- placing Invitrogen's products in nearly every major laboratory in the world. Founded in 1987, Invitrogen is headquartered in Carlsbad, California and conducts business in more than 70 countries around the world. The company globally employs approximately 4,000 scientists and other professionals. For more information about Invitrogen visit the company's web site at www.invitrogen.com.

Safe Harbor Statement

Certain statements contained in this press release are considered "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and it is Invitrogen's intent that such statements be protected by the safe harbor created thereby. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to statements that: 1) Invitrogen's policy will help researchers, laboratories and research institutions to share some of the basic tools of post-genomic biological research; 2) More open licensing policies will follow in the pattern of the Gateway(R) Open Architecture. Such forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the risks that: a) Invitrogen's policy may not increase exchange, sharing or collaboration with regard to basic research tools; b) Invitrogen may not expand its "open architecture" policy further than Gateway(R) Technology, as well as other risks and uncertainties detailed from time to time in Invitrogen's Securities and Exchange Commission filings.