Release Details

CARLSBAD, Calif., Jan. 4 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ISIS) announced today that Michael Treble has joined the company as Chief Executive Officer of its Ibis program. Mr. Treble and David J. Ecker, Ph.D., Isis Vice President and President of Ibis, will be responsible for spearheading the strategic direction and commercialization of the Company's TIGER biosensor technology.

"We welcome the addition of Michael to the Ibis team as we move forward in bringing our TIGER biosensor technology to the market," said Stanley T. Crooke, M.D., Ph.D., Chairman and CEO of Isis Pharmaceuticals. "His knowledge and expertise in product development and in commercializing technologies and diagnostics will be great assets, and complement the strong scientific expertise, innovation and talent Dave has built within the program over the past several years."

"Michael's experience in marketing, finance and business development will be fundamental in expanding our technology customer base," Dr. Ecker said. "We've worked diligently to develop and enhance the technology and expand its various potential applications to meet the needs of our current and future customers. We see great opportunity in the government, research instrument, and medical and diagnostic markets, and with the addition of Michael to our program, we now have the expertise in-house to move the technology aggressively down the commercialization path."

Prior to joining Isis, Mr. Treble was a founder of Tienta Sciences, Inc. and SonoPlot, Inc., venture start-up companies based upon technology licensing applications from Purdue and Wisconsin Universities. Prior to that, Mr. Treble was President and CEO of NimbleGen Systems, Inc., a genomics-based company that produces high-density custom DNA arrays for academic, bio-pharm and ag-bio applications. Mr. Treble was also the Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and Director of Third Wave Technologies, Inc., a leader in the genomics diagnostic field. Additionally, he served as Director of Marketing and Field Services for Roche Diagnostics and as Marketing Manager for Abbott Diagnostics.

Mr. Treble is on the Board and serves as Chairman of the Finance Committee of Gentra Systems, Inc., a private, venture backed DNA/RNA sample preparation platform company located in Minneapolis, MN. He is also on the Board of Axela Biosensors, Inc., a protein analysis start-up company located in Toronto, Canada. Mr. Treble received his Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Buffalo and Bachelor of Science from Canisius College, Buffalo, NY.

About TIGER and the Ibis Program

TIGER, which stands for Triangulation Identification Genetic Evaluation of Risks, is a research program initially sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) under a subcontract from San Diego-based Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) for bioweapons defense. The key benefit of the TIGER biosensor is that in a single test, without culturing, the system is capable of simultaneously identifying infectious agents, including previously unknown and newly emerging organisms. The technology development program combines Ibis' expertise in microbial genome sequence analysis and advanced mass spectrometry technology with SAIC's advanced signal processing capabilities.

To date, Ibis has received contracts for up to $65 million in funding from several government entities, including DARPA, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for epidemiological surveillance applications, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for the development of a microbial agent database, and by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, for biological products screening. In addition, the program has received research funding from the National Institutes of Standards and Technology and U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID).

Isis' Ibis program has expanded on Isis' RNA-based drug discovery and development expertise in order to revolutionize the identification and treatment of infectious diseases. The program's goals are to create a platform technology, TIGER, that can rapidly and accurately identify a broad range of organisms in a single test and to develop small molecule antibacterial and antiviral drugs that bind to RNA. To accomplish these tasks, Ibis scientists integrate functional genomics, bioinformatics and RNA-focused chemistry programs with novel high-throughput, mass spectrometry-based screening methods.

About Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is exploiting its expertise in RNA to discover and develop novel human therapeutic drugs for its pipeline and for its partners. The company has successfully commercialized the world's first antisense drug and has 10 antisense products in development to treat metabolic, cardiovascular, inflammatory and viral diseases, and cancer. Through its Ibis Therapeutics® program, Isis is developing a biosensor to identify infectious organisms, and is discovering small molecule drugs that bind to RNA. As an innovator in RNA-based drug discovery and development, Isis is the owner or exclusive licensee of more than 1,400 issued patents worldwide. Additional information about Isis is available at http://www.isispharm.com.

This press release includes forward-looking statements regarding the development and commercialization of the Company's TIGER biosensor technology and products, as well as its plans and goals for the program. Any statement describing our goals, expectations, intentions or beliefs is a forward-looking statement and should be considered an at-risk statement, including those statements that are described as Isis' clinical goals. Such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, particularly those inherent in the process of developing technology, in discovering and commercializing drugs that are safe and effective for use as human therapeutics, and in the endeavor of building a business around such products. Actual results could differ materially from those discussed in this press release. As a result, you are cautioned not to rely on these forward-looking statements. These and other risks concerning Isis' research and development programs are described in additional detail in Isis' Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2003, and quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2004, which are on file with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Copies of these and other documents are available from the company.

Ibis Therapeutics® is a registered trademark of Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

SOURCE Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
01/04/2005

CONTACT: Investor Relations & Corporate Communications, Kristina Peterson or Navjot Rai, both of Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 760-603-2331
Web site: http://www.isispharm.com
(ISIS)

01/04/2005 07:55 EST http://www.prnewswire.com