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Illumina Technology Selected By Amgen for Landmark Women's Health Study With Brigham & Women's Hospital

Posted on: Wednesday, 25 October 2006, 06:00 CDT

Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) announced today an agreement with Amgen for the purchase and installation of a large, multi-component genetic analysis system for Infinium® genotyping. Amgen, in collaboration with the Brigham & Women's Hospital will use Illumina technology to analyze approximately 28,000 samples at Amgen's facility in Cambridge, Massachusetts as part of the Women's Genome Health Study. The study will look at genetic variation in American women that may underlie a range of serious illness such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, breast cancer and osteoporosis.

"Illumina is proud to be at the forefront of genetic analysis, and to have been selected by Amgen to provide the technology needed to complete a study of this magnitude," said Jay Flatley, Illumina President and CEO. "We remain committed to helping researchers identify inherited genetic differences, moving us closer towards the understanding of the causes and treatments for these conditions."

Using the HumanHap300-Duo BeadChip, the Women's Genome Health Study will genotype 28,000 women, all of whom have been clinically monitored for more than ten years and tracked for the development of common diseases such as heart disease, stroke, diabetes, breast cancer and osteoporosis. By comparing the potential genetic variations in women with one of these diseases to those who have remained healthy, researchers hope to identify inherited genetic differences among women that may lead to the development of disease.

"This groundbreaking study may constitute a major step toward realizing the promise of personalized medicine," according to Dr. Paul Ridker of Brigham & Women's Hospital. "By analyzing data from this study physicians may be able to identify which of their patients are genetically predisposed to diseases such as heart disease and breast cancer, and potentially tailor their treatment approach to those patients accordingly."

For more information on the Women's Genome Health Study, please visit www.brighamandwomens.org.

About Illumina

Illumina (www.illumina.com) develops and markets next-generation tools for the large-scale analysis of genetic variation and function. The Company's proprietary BeadArray technology -- now used in leading genomics centers around the world -- provides the throughput, cost effectiveness and flexibility necessary to enable researchers in the life sciences and pharmaceutical industries to perform the billions of tests necessary to extract medically valuable information from advances in genomics and proteomics. This information will help pave the way to personalized medicine by correlating genetic variation and gene function with particular disease states, enhancing drug discovery, allowing diseases to be detected earlier and more specifically, and permitting better choices of drugs for individual patients. For more information about Infinium technology, please visit www.illumina.com/infinium/.

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: this release may contain forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Among the important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in any forward-looking statements are the costs and outcome of Illumina's litigation with Affymetrix, the Company's ability to scale and integrate technology acquired from CyVera, the ability to further scale oligo synthesis output and technology to satisfy market demand deriving from the Company's collaboration with Invitrogen, Illumina's ability to further develop and commercialize its BeadArray technologies and to deploy new gene expression and genotyping products and applications for its platform technology, to manufacture robust Sentrix® arrays -- including HumanHap BeadChips -- and Oligator® oligonucleotides, and other factors detailed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission including its recent filings on Forms 10-K and 10-Q or in information disclosed in public conference calls, the date and time of which are released beforehand. Illumina disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements beyond the date of this release.

Source: Business Wire

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