Axcell Biosciences and InforMax Announce Strategic Partnership in Bioinformatics

AxCell Biosciences Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Cytogen Corp. (Princeton, NJ), and InforMax have signed a letter of intent to market AxCell's proprietary proteomics database, currently under development, as part of an enterprise bioinformatics solution to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and agricultural industries. The multi-year agreement provides for technology development by InforMax to link AxCell's database to InforMax's Software Solution for Bio-Medicine (SSBM), a new generation of molecular biology and genetics software. The market for bioinformatic products has been estimated to be over one billion dollars and is expected to exceed two billion dollars within five years, according to industry sources.

Aberrations in protein-protein interactions are at the heart of the molecular basis of many diseases. AxCell uses proprietary technology which identifies protein – protein interactions to create the Inter-Functional Proteomic (IFP) Database. A significant feature of AxCell's technology is the ability to utilize existing high-throughput instrumentation. As a result, AxCell is able to create an extensive database which identifies valuable protein interactions as novel drug targets. An important additional use of the database will be to assist in optimizing drug design so as to minimize unwanted side effects. The AxCell-InforMax product, which will link the database with an intuitive user interface in an enterprise system, will allow our clients to utilize this valuable information with other existing information and algorithms.

"Our partnership with AxCell Biosciences is truly strategic not just for InforMax but also for our clients as it helps us complete a high value solution for them," said Dr. Alex Titomirov, Chairman and CEO of InforMax. "This will allow our clients to get the most out their investment," Dr. Titomirov added.

For large research organizations that want to increase dramatically their researchers' productivity while protecting their company's intellectual property, Software Solution For Bio-Medicine (SSBM) is an enterprise bioinformatics system that offers high-speed analysis of both public and proprietary genetic databases within the security of the corporate firewall. Unlike other such systems, SSBM contains ResearchLogic, a system design that supports the natural process of molecular biology research with unparalleled ease of use and ResearchLogic Extensions, that allow researchers to incorporate their own algorithms into ResearchLogic.

"InforMax's expertise and technology will enable the creation of the IFP user interface using established computer science methodology and data visualization tools. This strategic partnership also provides integration with publicly available genomic and proteomic data, utilizing InforMax's enterprise software, SSBM," commented Brian R. Bullard, Vice-President and Chief Information Officer of AxCell. "The expertise they have gained with their successful desktop product has allowed them to create an enterprise solution that is expected to become the industry leader. This partnership allows AxCell to focus on automating the generation of data and the construction of the database, while InforMax applies proven technologies and sales competence that enable delivery of our IFP product."

InforMax Inc., headquartered in Rockville, MD, is a leader in the development of bioinformatics software for accelerated drug discovery. Founded in 1990 by Dr. Alex Titomirov, InforMax enables over 10,000 researchers worldwide to achieve greater insights into genetic function through biological data mining and integrated sequence analysis. Unlike other bioinformatics software, InforMax products are designed with the ResearchLogic(tm) system, a knowledge base that mirrors the molecular biologist's natural process of scientific inquiry. Presently, InforMax offers Vector NTI Suite(tm) for desktop sequence analysis and Software Solution for BioMedicine(tm) for enterprise bioinformatics.

AxCell Biosciences, established in late 1996, is a biopharmaceutical content provider with proprietary technology, which it is using to identify intracellular protein-protein interactions. These interactions form the core of the Company's Inter-functional Proteomic (IFP) Database. AxCell's mission is to offer the IFP Database to accelerate the industry's drug discovery process for treatment of cancer, cardiovascular, autoimmune and central nervous system diseases.

Cytogen Corp., based in Princeton, New Jersey, is a biopharmaceutical company that develops new treatments and diagnostics for cancer and urological diseases. For information on CYTOGEN, including prescribing information as to its approved products, visit the Company's web site at www.cytogen.com.

AxCell Biosciences Corp.
John D. Rodwell, Ph.D.
(609) 750-8299, email: info@axcellbio.com

InforMax, Inc. Timothy Sullivan
(301) 984-2206, email: Sullivan@InforMaxinc.com

Noonan/Russo
Communications Inc.
(212) 696-4455, Matthew Knight ext 271 (media)
Julio Cantre ext 237 (investors)