World's Top Gene Synthesis Companies Establish Tough Biosecurity Screening Protocol

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Form International Gene Synthesis Consortium (IGSC) to Coordinate
Best Practices in Risk Reduction/Five Member Companies Represent 80 %
of Worldwide Gene Synthesis Capacity

Washington, D.C./Regensburg, November 19, 2009 - Five of the world's
leading gene synthesis companies today announced agreement that they
will apply a common screening protocol to promote biosecurity in the
gene synthesis industry. By screening the sequences of synthetic gene
orders and the customers who place them, the companies aim to support
government efforts to prevent the misuse of gene synthesis
technology. Blue Heron Biotechnology, DNA2.0, GENEART, GenScript and
Integrated DNA Technologies together represent approximately 80 % of
the global gene synthesis capacity. They have formed the
International Gene Synthesis Consortium (IGSC) to coordinate ongoing
best practices development and to work together with governments and
others concerned to promote the beneficial application of gene
synthesis technology and to safeguard biosecurity.

"We are proud to announce the formation of the International Gene
Synthesis Consortium and equally proud of the commitment to the
secure and safe synthesis of DNA it demonstrates", said John
Mulligan, Founder and CSO of Blue Heron Biotechnology. "The depth and
breadth of expertise in gene synthesis represented by the
participating companies, in concert with our dedication to policy
based on sound science and thoughtful leadership, will enable us to
shape the growth of a safe gene synthesis industry poised to help
address the technological needs of the 21st century."

"Safety and security are a chief priority for all of the IGSC
companies, as the growth of the gene synthesis industry depends on an
impeccable safety record. Each of the five founding companies has
demonstrated a strong commitment to the safe delivery of synthetic
DNA by implementing strong internal biosecurity practices", said
Prof. Dr. Ralf Wagner, CEO and CSO of GENEART. "We hope that the IGSC
will help to encourage effective collaboration with government and
policy organizations and promote internationally consistent
approaches to safety and security in gene synthesis."

"Each of the IGSC companies have worked over the past several years
to implement internal sequence and customer screening processes,
while contributing to the larger conversation amongst government
agencies, policy organizations and the broader scientific community
about developing an internationally coordinated approach to
biosecurity", said Nick Yan, Vice President, Marketing of GenScript
USA. "Recognizing that achieving real gains in biosecurity requires
harmonization of screening and other practices, we have drafted a
harmonized screening protocol and decided to form the IGSC in an
effort to coordinate ongoing work toward shared best practices in the
gene synthesis industry."

The IGSC's "Harmonized Screening Protocol for Gene Sequence &
Customer Screening to Promote Biosecurity" establishes the five core
components that each IGSC company will apply to promote the safe use
of synthetic genes:

* Gene Sequence Screening: The complete DNA sequence of
every synthetic gene order is to be screened against a Regulated
Pathogen Database developed by the consortium and one or more of
the internationally coordinated sequence reference databanks (i.e.,
NCBI/GenBank, EBI/EMBL or DDBJ). Amino acid sequences of possible
translation products for each synthetic gene ordered will also be
screened.
* Gene Customer Screening: A complete and thorough screening
of each potential gene synthesis customer will be conducted to
establish identity and clearance for delivery of genes ordered, in
accordance with national guidelines. The screening protocol assigns
special considerations to the ordering of Select Agent genes.
* Record Keeping: The IGSC companies will keep all
screening, customer and order records for at least eight years.
* Order Refusal & Reporting: IGSC companies reserve the
right to refuse to fill any order and to notify authorities upon
identifying potentially problematic orders, coordinating efforts
with local and national law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
* Regulatory Compliance: IGSC companies comply with all
applicable laws and regulations governing the synthesis,
possession, transport, export and import of gene synthesis and
other products.

"Gene synthesis is the technology driver that will enable research
institutions, companies and even individuals or small teams of
scientists to develop solutions to the great challenges of our age,
such as climate change, world hunger and pandemic disease. Gene
synthesis itself provides us with powerful new opportunities to
combat the threat of bioterrorism", said Jeremy Minshull, president
of DNA2.0. "We won't tolerate attempts to misuse gene synthesis
technology to threaten the safety of any community. We scrutinize our
orders to ensure that our customers are using our products for their
potential benefits."

"The founding companies of the IGSC have been working hand-in-hand
with government and with the greater community of scientists and
policy advocates to share our expertise in gene synthesis and to help
us all devise the most effective biosecurity practices", said Damon
Terrill, Senior Vice President & General Counsel for International
Legal and Regulatory Affairs for Integrated DNA Technologies. "For
over three years, that collaboration has included close consultation
with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Departments of
Homeland Security and State, as well as with governments in Europe,
especially. We encourage all companies who conduct gene synthesis to
adopt the IGSC's approach to sequence and customer screening, and we
invite any company with significant business in gene synthesis to
join us in the effort."

About the IGSC
The International Gene Synthesis Consortium (IGSC) represents the
gene synthesis industry. For more information please visit
www.genesynthesisconsortium.org.

For further inquiries, please contact:

Eric Schubert
IGSC
Phone: +415-939-4366
info@genesynthesisconsortium.com

For European inquiries, please contact:

Dr. Karoline Stürmer
GENEART AG
Josef-Engert-Str. 11
93053 Regensburg
Germany
Phone: +49-(0)941-942 76-417
Fax: +49-(0)941-942 76-711
ir@geneart.com
www.geneart.com

Legal Information:
This document may contain estimates, prognoses and opinions about
company plans and objectives, products or services, future results,
opinions about these results or opinions leading up to these results.
All these projections into the future are subject to risk,
uncertainty and unforeseeable change outside the control of the
GENEART Group. Many factors may lead to actual results, which
considerably deviate from the given projections for these results.

About GENEART AG:
In 2000, GENEART entered the Gene Synthesis market and has since
become the global market leader. Today, the company is one of the
leading specialists in the Synthetic Biology field. Experts at
GENEART provide key technologies for the development and production
of new therapeutics and vaccines. Customers also take advantage of
GENEART services to customize enzyme attributes, such as the
attributes of enzymes used as detergent additives, and to construct
bacteria, which produce complex biopolymers or break down polymers,
such as synthetics, petroleum components, etc. GENEART's service
portfolio ranges from the optimization and production of synthetic
genes according to DIN EN ISO 9001:2000, to the generation of gene
variants or complex gene libraries and the production of cell lines,
to the development and production of DNA and protein based drug
candidates. GENEART AG in Regensburg and its subsidiaries GENEART
Inc. in Toronto (Canada) and GENEART Inc. in San Francisco (USA)
employ about 180 people. The company is listed on the German Stock
Exchange since May 2006.

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