Gen-Probe Reports Strong Financial Results for First Quarter 2008, Raises Full-Yea...(. As expected Gen-Probe's total reven...)

As expected, Gen-Probe's total revenues and net income in the first quarter of 2008 benefited from $16.4 million of royalty and license revenue received from Bayer, representing the third and final payment due in connection with the 2006 settlement of the companies' patent infringement litigation.

Detailed Results

Gen-Probe's clinical diagnostics sales in the first quarter of 2008 benefited from continued growth of the APTIMA Combo 2(R) assay, an amplified nucleic acid test (NAT) for simultaneously detecting Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) and Neisseria gonorrhoeae (GC). Sales of this assay increased based on market share gains on both the Company's semi-automated instrument platform and on the high-throughput, fully automated TIGRIS(R) system. Revenue from the PACE(R) product line, the Company's non-amplified tests for the same microorganisms, declined in the first quarter compared to the prior year period, in line with Gen-Probe's expectations.

In blood screening, product sales in the first quarter of 2008 benefited from continued international expansion of the PROCLEIX ULTRIO assay, from higher pricing associated with U.S. commercial sales of the PROCLEIX WNV (West Nile virus) assay on the TIGRIS system, from the timing of product shipments, and from increased sales of TIGRIS instruments to Chiron. The Company's blood screening products are marketed worldwide by Chiron, a business unit of Novartis Vaccines and Diagnostics.

Product sales were, in millions:

Three Months Ended March 31,

2008 2007 Change

Clinical diagnostics $52.5 $47.6 10 %

Blood screening $49.0 $39.6 24 %

Total product sales $101.5 $87.2 16 %

Collaborative research revenues for the first quarter of 2008 were $2.5 million, compared to $2.4
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