September 21, 2006 - Takara Bio, Inc. (Shiga, Japan) announced today that they have entered into a license agreement with Applied Biosystems Group, an Applera Corporation business, under the expanded Applied Biosystems PCR (polymerase chain reaction) licensing program. The expanded program includes patents for real-time PCR and other important PCR-related technologies not licensed under the previous PCR licensing program. Financial terms of the license were not disclosed.

The expanded program follows an agreement signed in May 2005 between Applera and Hoffmann-La Roche authorizing Applied Biosystems to be the sole licensor of Roche patents covering reagents and methods for practicing PCR and real-time PCR in the life science research and applied fields. The expanded PCR licensing program includes licenses to the foundational patents as well as the two leading real-time PCR techniques known as the TaqMan^® assay and the Dye-Intercalation Assay method. It also includes patents covering an improved form of the Taq polymerase enzyme used to initiate PCR and referred to as Hot-Start.

Although the foundational patents covering the PCR process expired in the United States in March 2005 and elsewhere in March 2006, numerous other patents related to PCR remain in force. These surviving patents cover, for example, enzyme compositions, kits, and methods such as reverse transcription and DNA sequencing.

Clontech Laboratories, Inc. (Mountain View, CA), a wholly owned subsidiary of Takara Bio, also obtained the same license as an affiliate of Takara Bio.

Takara Bio Inc. is an innovative biotechnology company based in Shiga, Japan. As a world leader in biotechnology research and development, Takara Bio was the first company to market PCR technology in Japan and is also the developer of the RetroNectin^® reagent, which is a world-standard in gene therapy protocols. In addition to providing research reagents and equipment to the life science research market, Takara Bio has active research and product development activities in the fields of gene and cell-based therapy, and agricultural biotechnology; and is committed preventing disease and improving the quality of life for all people through the use of biotechnology. Through strategic alliances with other industry leaders, the Company aims to extend its reach around the world. More information is available at http://www.takara-bio.com.

Clontech Laboratories, Inc. develops, produces, and markets innovative biological products to the life science market worldwide. Clontech has over 2,000 products that enable life science researchers to study genes, their products, and their cellular function through the use of innovative and powerful tools for gene cloning, labeling, and expression; as well as for elucidating protein: protein interactions; isolating and purifying DNA and proteins; and conducting a wide variety of PCR experiments. Clontech is a wholly owned subsidiary of Takara Bio Inc. For more information visit http://www.clontech.com.

For more information:
Corporate Communications
Takara Bio Inc.
E-mail: bio-ir@takara-bio.co.jp

This article is translated from press release in Japanese for your convenience.

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