News & Events

SAN DIEGO, CA --June 4, 2001-- Nanogen, Inc., ("Nanogen") (Nasdaq:NGEN) and BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) (NYSE:BDX) announced that on May 29, 2001, their joint venture was awarded its first United States Patent relating to technology the parties developed together. The patent, U.S. Patent No. 6,238,868 (the "' 868 patent"), is entitled "Multiplex Amplification And Separation Of Nucleic Acid Sequences Using Ligation-Dependent Strand Displacement Amplification and Bioelectronic Chip Technology."

The ' 868 patent claims cover a kit and methods employing ligation-dependent strand displacement amplification ("SDA") on a bioelectronic chip that facilitate optimization of multiplex amplification, detection and analysis of nucleic acid sequences. SDA is BD's proprietary isothermal amplification technique, which is compatible with Nanogen's unified amplification-hybridization detection system on one bioelectronic chip. This creates a combination of technologies designed to increase speed of analysis.

Nanogen's electronic technology is uniquely adapted for this application since the amplification primers can be immobilized on individual sets of microarray sites by electronic addressing. This means amplification occurs on individual sets of pads, resulting in spatially separated reactions. The advantages of these techniques include the ability to perform multiple reactions simultaneously and in the same reaction mix, but with a greatly reduced risk of interaction among oligonucleotide reagents. Multiplex amplification reactions with conventional technologies are difficult to optimize because the oligonucleotides can freely interact with each other, resulting in undesirable side reactions. The claimed technology is designed to increase the level of automation and ease of use of the NanoChip™ system, especially for future diagnostic applications.

Kieran Gallahue, president of Nanogen, commented: "Amplification in most genetic analyses is a costly and sensitive step. The ' 868 patent describes the use of on-chip strand displacement amplification on Nanogen's NanoChip™ cartridge, potentially simplifying the amplification and detection process and lowering costs. The issuance of the patent demonstrates the potential for leveraging electronics in the development of sample-to-answer systems and is a significant step in our drive for leadership in clinical molecular diagnostics."

Nanogen / BD Joint Venture
Nanogen and BD entered into a joint venture in October 1997, known as The Nanogen / Becton Dickinson Partnership, to develop and commercialize products primarily in the field of in vitro nucleic acid-based diagnostics and monitoring technologies in the field of infectious diseases. Nanogen and BD contributed to the joint venture licenses to certain intellectual property owned by each party, including BD's SDA technology and Nanogen's bioelectronic chip technology.

In September 2000, Nanogen and BD restructured their joint venture to permit the partners to commercialize certain discoveries from the joint venture's technology and allow each partner to collaborate with third parties to develop and commercialize products in the field of infectious diseases. Nanogen obtained a license to certain joint venture technologies to commercialize products in the field of infectious diseases. BD also expanded the field of use for Nanogen's SDA license outside of the joint venture to not only include in vitro human genetic testing and in vitro cancer diagnostics, but also in vitro testing of environmental, agricultural and veterinary samples.

Nanogen, Inc.
Nanogen markets its NanoChip™ Molecular Biology Workstation system to scientists and genomics laboratories, setting new standards for SNP scoring. In addition, Nanogen is developing a series of electronics-based products to help researchers and clinical healthcare providers accelerate their practical understanding and use of genomic information. The products introduced and under development are intended to provide quick and accurate analysis of DNA, RNA and proteins, and may eventually "bridge" the gap between the research and clinical settings. The Nanogen system is intended for research use only and not for use in diagnostic procedures. For additional information, please visit Nanogen's web site at www.nanogen.com

BD
BD is a medical technology company that manufactures and sells a broad range of supplies, devices and systems for use by healthcare professionals, medical research institutions, industry and the general public. For additional information, visit the BD web site at www.bd.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements, including whether Nanogen's NanoChip™ system can be successfully commercialized, whether products under development can be successfully developed and commercialized, whether the patented inventions can be successfully incorporated into commercial products, whether results reported by our customers or partners can be identically replicated, and whether Nanogen's collaborations will continue to be funded. Other risks and uncertainties are discussed under the caption "Factors That May Affect Results" and elsewhere in Nanogen's Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2000 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission as well as BD's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof. Nanogen and BD disclaim any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements.