-THE WOODLANDS, Texas, Feb. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Lexicon Genetics Incorporated announced today a multi-year functional genomics research agreement with Organon under Lexicon's OmniBank(R) Internet Universal(TM) program. Under the agreement, Organon will have access to mice from Lexicon's OmniBank library of 60,000 knockout mouse clones for use in determining the function of genes that represent potential drug targets. Organon will also have access to mice generated under Lexicon's homologous recombination program with genetic alterations directed at specific drug targets of interest.

"Lexicon Genetics' ability to rapidly generate knockout mice directed at genes that we believe to be potentially important drug targets will advance our drug discovery and drug target validation activities", said Driek Vergouwen, Managing Director R&D of Organon. "Our genomic studies are resulting in an accumulating base of newly discovered genes which appear to be involved in disease although their function in organisms is currently not known. Knockout mice provide one of the few, albeit also complex, research models to elucidate their function in a mammalian system. We are pleased to collaborate with Lexicon Genetics in view of their specialist experience in this area. We believe our joint contribution to the elucidation of gene function relevant to Organon's research and development fields may enable us to discover new medicines which act on the basis of disease and not only on disease symptoms."

"Lexicon is pleased to have the opportunity to help advance Organon's drug discovery efforts," said Arthur T. Sands, M.D., Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Lexicon Genetics Incorporated. "Our functional genomics technology platform, including OmniBank(R) and our complementary custom mutant mouse technologies, provides companies in the pharmaceutical industry with key resources for the acceleration of drug discovery, target validation and drug development programs."

Organon will have access to knockout mice generated from the OmniBank(R) library and custom knockouts generated by homologous recombination, in exchange for annual access and project fees with minimum annual commitments. Additional terms of the arrangement were not disclosed.

Lexicon's OmniBank(R) database and mouse clone library presently contains more than 60,000 embryonic stem (ES) cell clones stored in liquid nitrogen, each identified by DNA sequence from altered genes stored in a relational database. Each OmniBank(R) ES cell clone may be grown into a knockout mouse, a mouse whose DNA has been mutated to eliminate the function of, or "knockout," a specified gene. Knockout mice have become the preferred method, in both academia and industry, for the study of gene function in mammals, and provide valuable predictive information as to which gene products are valid drug targets or therapeutic proteins for pharmaceutical development. OmniBank(R) is based on a research breakthrough in gene trapping technology developed by Lexicon scientists at the company's research laboratories in the Woodlands, Texas.

Lexicon's OmniBank library is complemented by its technology for the creation of custom knockout mice with genetic alterations directed at specific drug targets of interest using homologous recombination techniques. Lexicon generates mice in which the gene of interest has been knocked out or conditionally knocked out (using recombinase technologies), and mice in which a point mutation has been introduced in the gene of interest. Lexicon's collaborators receive the benefit of the key patented enabling technologies for the development of custom knockout mice which are owned by or licensed to Lexicon, including positive/negative selection, Cre/lox and isogenic DNA, as well as Lexicon's proprietary lambda KOS system.

NV Organon develops and produces pharmaceutical products in fields such as gynaecology, psychiatry, athero-thrombosis, and auto-immune diseases. The company employs more than 11,500 employees worldwide. The company invests over 17 percent of its sales income in its drug discovery and development programmes. NV Organon is one of the pharmaceutical business units of Akzo Nobel. Akzo Nobel, based in the Netherlands, serves customers throughout the world with healthcare products, coatings, and chemicals. The company currently employs approximately 68,000 people in 75 countries. Consolidated sales for 1999 will total about EUR 12 billion (NLG 26 billion).

Lexicon Genetics Incorporated (www.lexicon-genetics.com) is a pioneer in the design, development and application of high-throughput gene trapping and mutagenesis technologies for gene discovery and functional genomics. Lexicon employs its proprietary Human Gene Trap(TM) database, OmniBank(R) library of gene-trapped mouse clones and its Internet-based bioinformatics software in an integrated technology platform for drug discovery and drug target validation. Lexicon has an agreement with Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. For access to the Human Gene Trap and OmniBank(R) databases. In addition to N.V. Organon, Lexicon has commercial OmniBank(R) alliances with The R.W. Johnson Pharmaceutical Research Institute, G.D. Searle & Co., ZymoGenetics/Novo Nordisk and DuPont Pharmaceuticals. Lexicon also provides access to a substantial portion of OmniBank(R) through its www.lexgen.com genomics Internet exchange to subscribers at leading research institutions throughout the world. Lexicon Genetics Incorporated, founded in 1995, is a privately-held company based in The Woodlands, Texas, U.S.A.