Budapest, Hungary
January 12, 2001

Following the successful completion of the first phase of the co-design and synthesis collaborative agreement between ComGenex and Rhone-Poulenc Agro, initiated in 1998, ComGenex, the first combinatorial platform company in Europe and a world leader in the supply of novel compounds for research in life science applications, announces the continuation of the agreement into the second supply phase. 

Under the terms of the original agreement ComGenex will continue to provide Aventis CropScience (formerly Rhone-Poulenc Agro and Agrevo) with access to ComGenex's proprietary in-house design and synthesis technologies and project management capabilities to produce novel combinatorial chemistry libraries. 

Christele Poujade, Head of External Collaborations within Aventis CropScience R&D Hit Discovery Department, commented that "Aventis is most pleased with the outcome from the first phase of the collaboration and is happy to continue to take advantage of ComGenex's creative and management experience into the second phase." 

Dr. Ferenc Darvas, President and CEO of ComGenex said, "We are pleased that the co-operation and chemistry produced within the original agreement has been a success for both companies and that Aventis CropSciences' satisfaction with the original agreement has been expressed with this continuation." 

Later Dr. Darvas also added, "I believe that, beyond the value that such collaborations offer, this continuation confirms ComGenex as a world class outsourcing partner for discovery companies looking for proven abilities and proven solutions."  

ComGenex maintains various in-house proprietary combinatorial technologies in the areas of chemistry, instrumentation, and high throughput analytics and informatics, and supports the industry's first E-Commerce system in the drug discovery field, ComGenexDirect. ComGenex focuses on developing a complete combinatorial chemistry solution for its more than 150 customers and partners world-wide, through library design, synthesis of open and co-design libraries, diversity and pre-selection of pharmacokinetically preferable series, access to advanced instrumentation and software, and integration of ComGenex's proprietary technologies and chemistry expertise.   

Aventis CropScience is a major crop protection and crop production company, which is also involved in top ranking environmental and public health activities. Committed to developing sustainable agriculture world-wide, Aventis CropScience focuses on researching, developing and marketing innovative solutions that meet the needs of today's farming -- healthy crops, increased yields, improved crop and food quality -- whilst constantly striving to meet the needs of the environment. With 1999 pro-forma sales of 4,061 million Euro, Aventis CropScience devotes over 10% of its turnover to the Research and Development of new chemicals, biotechnology and plant varieties. It employs about 15,500 people in more than 120 countries world-wide. 

Company news release
N3247