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South San Francisco, California
November 29, 2001
Crop protection targets
identified by scientists at
Exelixis, Inc. (Nasdaq: EXEL) for Indianapolis-based
Dow AgroSciences LLC could
lead to the development of more effective products to control
weeds and fungal diseases of plants.
Four targets, delivered to Dow AgroSciences under the companies'
one-year- old collaboration, were discovered through Exelixis'
proprietary Mechanism of Action (MOA) technology, which
identifies the molecular target of biologically active compounds
-- in this case herbicidal and fungicidal compounds provided by
Dow AgroSciences. The identification of these targets triggers
undisclosed milestone payments to Exelixis.
"We are pleased with the productivity of this collaboration and
are eager to move these targets forward to the next phase of
lead discovery," said Dan Kittle, vice president of Ag Chem and
Urban Pest R&D at Dow AgroSciences. "Our commitment to this
relationship was strengthened earlier this year by expansion of
the research program at Exelixis. Dow AgroSciences is confident
that this collaboration will continue to efficiently identify
high quality targets, which will enable us to speed the
discovery and development of new fungicides and herbicides of
value to agriculture."
"Our collaboration with Dow AgroSciences is a powerful
demonstration of the speed and productivity of our MOA
technology in identifying the molecular targets of biologically
active compounds," said George A. Scangos, Ph.D., president and
chief executive officer of Exelixis, Inc. "Agriculture is a
valuable part of our discovery research at Exelixis, and we look
forward to continued success in delivering novel fungicide and
herbicide targets in this collaboration."
Dow AgroSciences LLC, based in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, is
a global leader in providing pest management and biotechnology
products that improve the quality and quantity of the earth's
food supply and contribute to the safety, health and quality of
life of the world's growing population. Dow AgroSciences has
approximately 6,000 people in over 50 countries dedicated to its
business, and has world-wide sales of more than US $3 billion.
Dow AgroSciences is a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Dow
Chemical Company. For more information about Dow AgroSciences,
visit www.dowagro.com .
Exelixis, Inc. is a leading genomics-based drug discovery
company focused on product development through its expertise in
comparative genomics and model system genetics. These
technologies provide a rapid, efficient and cost effective way
to move from DNA sequence data to knowledge about the function
of genes and the proteins they encode. The company's technology
is broadly applicable to all life sciences industries including
pharmaceutical, diagnostic, agricultural biotechnology and
animal health. Exelixis has partnerships with Aventis
CropScience S.A., Bayer Corporation, Bristol-Myers Squibb
Company, Elan Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Pharmacia Corporation,
Protein Design Labs, Inc., Scios Inc. and Dow AgroSciences LLC,
and is building its internal development program in the area of
oncology. For more information, please visit the company's web
site at www.exelixis.com.
Exelixis and the Exelixis
logo are registered U.S. trademarks.
Company news release
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