Series C

LIFESPAN BIOSCIENCES COMPLETES $19 MILLION SERIES C FUNDING

Proceeds Will Advance Firm’s Work On Gene Expression In Human Diseases

SEATTLE, WA (April 17, 2001) — LifeSpan Biosciences, Inc., a leading genomics company using molecular pathology to profile and localize gene expression in human diseases, announced today that it has raised $19 million in Series C Preferred Funding.  The lead investor was SAIC Venture Capital Corporation, the venture arm of Fortune 500 company Science Applications International Corporation.  Other participants included Zurich-based equity4life, current shareholders and new private investors.

The new financing represents LifeSpan’s largest to date, following placements of $5.2 million and $13.2 million in 1999 and 2000, respectively.  Proceeds from the latest round will be used to automate and enhance the technology used for the company’s high throughput gene expression analysis, build new gene family databases, launch a new series of disease family databases beginning with cancer, and support LifeSpan’s proprietary gene research.

“We believe LifeSpan will continue to attract pharmaceutical and research interest.  The investment made by the SAIC VCC will support LifeSpan’s database management and security of pathway informatics.  SAIC and its Venture Capital Corporation are committed to growth in bioinformatics information technology and e-commerce,” said Palmer B. Ford, of the SAIC VCC, the Series C Round lead investor.

“The size of this round of funding represents a strong endorsement of our molecular pathology approach to the production of genomic information,” said Dr. Joseph P. Brown, President and CEO of LifeSpan Biosciences.  “We believe our technology holds promise for significantly accelerating drug discovery and development, and clearly the investment community shares our vision.”

Bioinformatics is the convergence of biology, information technology and scientific analysis.  Because of its quantitative nature, bioinformatics embodies several of SAIC’s business areas, including data mining and analysis, tailored information technology, and signal and image processing.  Bioinformatics requires the storage, retrieval, and processing of very large quantity of data, generally stored in multiple disparate databases.  SAIC, as a strategic investor, is looking forward to working with LifeSpan in this area,” said Raymond O. Johnson, Vice President at SAIC.

Through its extensive and highly characterized tissue bank of normal and diseased archival human specimens, high throughput gene expression analysis technology, and protein localization technologies, LifeSpan is working to precisely map disease-associated genes and proteins within human pathology specimens.  This information is intended to help the pharmaceutical industry select the genes that are most closely associated with disease development in order to facilitate drug discovery efforts as well as provide early warning about potential toxicity.

LifeSpan’s findings are being compiled into the first comprehensive, integrated genomic database that combines gene expression data with protein expression and precise tissue localization information.  The database will contain detailed information on gene expression in each cell type in the tissues and diseases studied, accompanied by high-resolution digital images.

The first portion of the database, currently under development, addresses the expression and localization of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), one of the most valuable families of receptors from a pharmacological perspective.  Major pharmaceutical firms including Pfizer, Novartis Research Foundation, Bristol Myers-Squibb, and Merck & Co., have contracted to receive early access to this database as a means of prioritizing the best potential drug targets from among the many candidates that have been identified by the genomics revolution.

About LifeSpan Biosciences, Inc.

LifeSpan Biosciences, headquartered in Seattle, Washington, is a privately held genomics company founded in 1995 that utilizes proprietary molecular pathology and bioinformatics technology, to profile and localize gene expression in normal and diseased human tissues for its more than 50 pharmaceutical company customers in Europe, Asia and North America.

LifeSpan is currently applying its technology and expertise to the production of a comprehensive atlas on the expression of each of the 30,000 human genes in both normal and diseased tissues.  The company’s Web address is www.lsbio.com.

About SAIC Venture Capital Corporation

The SAIC Venture Capital Corporation (SAIC VCC) was founded in 2000 by Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) to make equity investments in early-stage, high-potential companies to promote leading-edge technologies and develop key strategic relationships in the areas of telecommunications, information technology, the Internet and electronic commerce.  SAIC is the nation’s largest employee-owned research and engineering company, providing information technology, systems integration and eBusiness products and services to commercial and government customers.  More information about SAIC VCC can be found on the Internet at www.saic-vcc.com.