Isis Announces $4.2 Million in Government Contracts Awarded to Its Ibis Subsidiary for Biodefense Applications D...( CARLSBAD Calif. Sept. 20 /- IsisP...)

CARLSBAD, Calif., Sept. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ISIS) announced today that its wholly owned subsidiary, Ibis Biosciences, Inc. (Ibis), has been awarded four new government contracts totaling up to $4.2 million to advance the detection and identification of microbial threat agents for biodefense applications. Three of these contracts are from the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate (DHS-S&T) and total up to approximately $3.3 million and a fourth contract, worth up to $0.9 million, is from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), an agency within the Department of Defense. These contracts will fund Ibis' planned development of advanced sample preparation methodologies and validation of applications on the Ibis T5000(TM) for broad biological weapon detection, the advancement of Ibis' microbial forensics applications, and the enhancement of Ibis' microbial database.

"We are pleased with the ongoing government support and the opportunity to continue to advance our technology and applications in the biodefense arena," said Michael Treble, President of Ibis and Vice President of Isis. "These contracts support the Ibis business model to commercialize the Ibis T5000 in multiple business sectors, including government biodefense and infectious disease surveillance, healthcare-associated infection control, infectious disease research and, in the future, in vitro diagnostics."

As part of the contracts awarded by DHS-S&T, Ibis will continue to develop broad biological applications to identify and characterize important bacterial and viral agents that are considered crucial to maintain homeland security. Ibis will also use the funding to advance
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