THE WOODLANDS, Texas, April 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Lexicon Genetics Incorporated announced today a multi-year functional genomics research agreement with American Home Products under Lexicon's OmniBank(R) Internet Universal(TM) program. Under the agreement, American Home Products will have Internet access to Lexicon's OmniBank gene sequence database and library of 70,000 knockout mouse clones for use in determining the function of genes that represent potential drug targets. American Home Products will also have access to Lexicon's custom knockout mouse program for the engineering of genetic alterations directed at specific drug targets and the option to access Lexicon's Seek-Target-Validation (S-T-V(TM)) program to determine the function and pharmaceutical relevance of selected genes. Under a separate agreement, American Home Products obtained a sublicense from Lexicon to use positive- negative selection and isogenic DNA technology in its in-house research efforts.

American Home Products will have non-exclusive access to Lexicon's OmniBank database during the term of the agreement in exchange for annual access fees. Lexicon may receive royalties on sales of drugs and diagnostic products developed using novel genes discovered in the OmniBank database. American Home Products will also have access to knockout mice generated from the OmniBank library and custom knockouts generated by homologous recombination, in exchange for agreed-upon fees with minimum annual commitments. American Home Products will have the option to access Lexicon's Seek-Target-Validation (S-T-V) functional genomics program under agreed-upon terms. Under a separate agreement, Lexicon granted a non-exclusive sublicense to American Home Products for the use of certain aspects of Lexicon's positive-negative selection and isogenic DNA technology in its in-house drug- discovery programs. Additional terms of the arrangement were not disclosed.

Lexicon's OmniBank database and mouse clone library presently contains more than 70,000 embryonic stem (ES) cell clones stored in liquid nitrogen freezers, each identified by DNA sequence from altered genes stored in a relational database. Each OmniBank ES cell clone may be grown into a knockout mouse, a mouse whose DNA has been mutated to eliminate the function of, or "knock out," 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 is based on 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 gene targeting technology for the creation of custom knockout mice with genetic alterations directed at specific drug targets of interest. 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.

Lexicon's Seek Target Validation (S-T-V) program is an in vivo mammalian functional genomics program to validate potential drug targets identified from the company's proprietary databases or through the internal research programs of the company's collaborators. Lexicon has developed a variety of biological and physiological screens to elucidate gene function and disease relevance.

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. In addition to American Home Products, Lexicon has commercial OmniBank alliances with The R.W. Johnson Pharmaceutical Research Institute, G.D. Searle & Co., Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, N.V. Organon, ZymoGenetics/Novo Nordisk and DuPont Pharmaceuticals, and a separate functional genomics agreement with Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Lexicon also provides access to a substantial portion of OmniBank 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.