New Report Cites Emerging Impact of Personalized Medicine on Healthcare

— Report from Personalized Medicine Coalition Issued at the 2^nd Annual Burrill Personalized Medicine Meeting —

San Francisco, CA - November 14, 2006 — "The Case for Personalized Medicine," a comprehensive review assessing the state of personalized medicine and the evidence that it will become an integral part of the healthcare system, will be presented this morning by Edward Abrahams, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Personalized Medicine Coalition, at the 2^nd Annual Burrill Personalized Medicine Meeting in San Francisco, CA.

Personalized medicine uses molecular analysis to achieve optimum medical outcomes in the management of a patient's disease or disease predisposition.

“'The Case for Personalized Medicine' illustrates the potential impact of personalized medicine on the healthcare system and outlines a realistic scenario for its evolution," said Abrahams, "including the need for a regulatory environment that will foster the emergence of personalized medicine; the realignment of reimbursement policies to support a more preventive, proactive approach to medicine; and the development of a healthcare information technology (HIT) infrastructure that will support the widespread adoption of electronic health records."”

The report, supported in part by Applera Corporation (Applied Biosystems and Celera Genomics) and Illumina, Inc., presents evidence that personalized medicine has already proven its value and will continue to grow in importance, while at the same time acknowledging that uncertainties remain about the full extent of its ultimate impact. In particular, the report stresses the potential of personalized medicine to:

• Detect disease at an earlier stage, when it is easier to treat effectively
• Enable the selection of optimal therapy and reduce trial-and-error prescribing
• Reduce adverse drug reactions
• Increase patient compliance with therapy
• Improve the selection of targets for drug discovery
• Reduce the time, cost, and failure rate of clinical trials
• Revive drugs that failed clinical trials or were withdrawn from the market
• Avoid withdrawal of marketed drugs
• Shift the emphasis in medicine from reaction to prevention
• Reduce the overall cost of healthcare

The report asserts that, at least in some cases, a personalized medicine approach to treatment has led to cost savings in the administration of healthcare, demonstrated itself to be a viable business strategy for product development, and, most importantly, proven its benefit to patients. A chart included as part of the report highlights selected marketed personalized medicine drugs, treatments, and diagnostics.

The role of diagnostic tests is also reviewed in the report. "Genetic and other molecular diagnostic tests are an essential component of the personalized medicine approach to medicine because they can provide treatment-related information about a patient's susceptibility to disease, the probable progression of disease, and a patient's likely response to drugs," said Tony White, Chairman, President, and CEO, Applera Corporation.

According to the report, the U.S. regulatory climate has been very supportive of trends in personalized medicine and regulators are encouraging a personalized approach to drug and diagnostic development. "It is becoming increasingly important that insurers begin to engage to understand personalized medicine and evolve their payment models to reflect the value of such innovation," said Arthur Holden, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development, Illumina, Inc. "Currently, Medicare reimbursement policy for diagnostic tests is based on traditional methods of diagnosis through existing signs and symptoms rather than adopting molecular-based tests. These new molecular assays will support the personalization of healthcare to become both more proactive and more efficient."

The report also details the ethical, legal, and societal questions being raised by genetic and other molecular tests, and the need for incorporating personalized medicine into medical education curricula.

For more information, or to download the full report, visit www.PersonalizedMedicineCoalition.org.

About the Personalized Medicine Coalition

The Personalized Medicine Coalition (PMC), representing a broad spectrum of academic, industrial, patient, provider, and payer communities, seeks to advance the understanding and adoption of personalized medicine concepts and products for the benefit of patients. For more information on the Personalized Medicine Coalition, please visit www.PersonalizedMedicineCoalition.org.

Contact:
Christine Mackenzie
Feinstein Kean Healthcare
617-577-8110
cmackenzie@fkhealth.com