Isis Announces $1.2 Million Award to Its Ibis Subsidiary to Expand Influenza Detection Capabilities and Enable Large-Scale Influenza Transmissi...( CARLSBAD Calif. Sept. 26 /- IsisP...),Health

CARLSBAD, Calif., Sept. 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ISIS) announced today that its wholly owned subsidiary, Ibis Biosciences, Inc. (Ibis), has been awarded a subcontract of a National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant to aid in influenza surveillance research through application of the Ibis T5000(TM) Biosensor System. The NIH grant, applied for jointly by Ibis and the Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute (LRRI) and subcontracted to Ibis by LRRI, provides funding for research studies, including assay development, and sample characterization in order to expand the understanding of transmission of influenza viruses, including the highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza viral strain.

"We are excited to be working with the Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute, a world leader in respiratory disease surveillance, to aid in understanding the transmission of influenza viruses," said Michael Treble, President of Ibis and Vice President of Isis. "Our service laboratory capabilities provide us the flexibility to support important and diverse projects, such as this one with the LRRI. Consistent with our business model, with this government funding we will not only fulfill the grant's specified research and screening activities, but we will also be able to incorporate any results and assay kit improvements into our commercial offerings."

The award to Ibis will fund the development of expanded influenza detection capabilities with assays to uniquely identify and characterize influenza strains and aid in the tracking of influenza transmissions. Additionally, because of the high-throughput, cost-effective and highly specific characteristics of the Ibis T5000 Biosensor System, as par
'/>"/>