Cytomyx enters into Europe-wide distribution agreement with Clinomics Biosciences, Inc

21 March 2003, Cambridge, UK – Cytomyx Holdings Plc (AIM:CYX), the Pharmaceutical Research Products and Services company, announces that it has signed a two year exclusive, Europe-wide distribution agreement with Clinomics Biosciences, Inc (Pittsfield, USA). Clinomics has established a major collection of highly characterised normal and disease-specific human biological samples and a range of related services that can be used by researchers in the pharmaceutical industry to advance their drug discovery efforts.

The Clinomics human tissue collection has been built upon a foundation of robust clinical and pathology data and stringent requirements relating to the consented donation procedure by which the samples are selected for inclusion in the collection. A powerful information management system enables researchers to select samples from the collection based on a wide range of criteria necessary to conduct meaningful experiments using both normal and diseased human tissue.

In addition to the tissue collection, Clinomics has also developed a range of pathology-based custom services that enable clients to study their drug targets and development candidates in the context of human clinical samples.  

The distribution agreement with Clinomics affords numerous strategic benefits for Cytomyx as the products and services marketed by Clinomics are a natural extension to Cytomyx’ current services and product portfolio. Under the terms of this agreement, both Cytomyx Ltd and Cambridge Bioscience Ltd, (the life science reagents distribution company acquired by Cytomyx in October 2002) will jointly market Clinomics’ products and services to customers throughout the UK and Europe.

Commenting on the agreement, Mike Kerins, Cytomyx’ Chief Executive said, “Clinomics has created a resource that will be of immense value to the pharmaceutical industry in Europe.  The scale and diversity of the sample collection, combined with the care and professionalism that has been taken to ensure that the collection meets the highest ethical and scientific standards, ensures that Clinomics will become an essential partner for any organisation involved in drug discovery. We are delighted to collaborate with Clinomics as its partner of choice throughout Europe and believe that with our understanding of the customer base and the science in this area we will be able to make a major impact, establishing Clinomics as the leading supplier of resources that will enable the development of diagnostic and therapeutic products to be conducted in the context of human biology.”

 “We are very excited about our agreement with Cytomyx.  We believe they are strongly positioned to develop a leading edge, European-based genomics/proteomics services business” stated Stephen Turner, Chairman & CEO. “Their market position complements the Clinomics franchise, as the leader in providing biological sample databases for use in pharmaceutical discovery research.”

For more information on Cytomyx, please see www.cytomyx.com

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Cytomyx

Karen Chandler-Smith

Tel: 01223 508 191 Fax:01223 508 198 email: karen@cytomyx.com

Cytomyx Holdings Plc

Cytomyx (AIM:CYX) provides a wide range of services and products, which support and enhance early stage drug discovery efforts within the pharmaceutical industry. The company has developed a gene and protein based technology platform that enables it to undertake contract research for its partners in pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies worldwide. In addition the company is using its technology platform to develop a range of high value pharmaceutically relevant research products. In October 2002 the company acquired Cambridge BioScience, a leading distributor of research products to life science researchers in the UK and in 2003 the company further expanded their life science product range with the acquisition of the In-Situ hybridisation business of Cytocell Ltd.  Formed in 1996, Cytomyx, based in Cambridge, UK, is publicly listed on London’s Alternative Investment Market.