Isis Announces Equity Investment in Ibis Biosciences Subsidiary by Abbott; Option Acquired to Purchase Remaining I...(vestment will allow usto accelerate the ...)

"Ibis is a tangible example of the value of the innovation taking place at Isis and of our strategy," said B. Lynne Parshall, COO and CFO of Isis. "The investment by Abbott provides Ibis the funding to take the key next steps in enhancing its value. Because of the transaction structure, even if the option is exercised, Isis shareholders will continue to benefit from Ibis' success through the earn out provision. As a result we believe this is a very attractive transaction for Isis shareholders."

Conference Call

At 8:30 a.m. Eastern Standard Time today, January 31, 2008, Isis will conduct a live webcast conference call to discuss this transaction. Interested parties may access the webcast at http://www.isispharm.com or listen to the call by dialing 877-440-5796. A webcast replay will be available for a limited time at the same address.

ABOUT IBIS T5000 BIOSENSOR SYSTEM AND IBIS BIOSCIENCES, INC.

Ibis Biosciences, Inc., a majority-owned subsidiary of Isis Pharmaceuticals, has developed and is commercializing the Ibis T5000(TM) Biosensor System for rapid identification and characterization of infectious agents. The Ibis T5000 is currently intended for research use only and not for use in diagnostic procedures. It is capable of identifying virtually all bacteria, viruses and fungi, and can provide information about drug resistance, virulence and strain type of these pathogens. Commercial applications for the Ibis T5000 Biosensor System include epidemiologic surveillance, monitoring of pandemic diseases, identification of emerging or previously unknown pathogens, forensic characterization of human samples, identification of sources of hospital-associated infections, and, in the future, human infectious disease diagnostics. Ibis develops, manufactur
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