BioSeek and EPA Expand ToxCast Contract

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif.--(Business Wire)--
BioSeek, Inc., a pioneer in the application of predictive human biology to drug
discovery, announced today that the United States Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) will utilize BioSeek's BioMAP® Systems technology to profile the
biological effects of compounds in a second phase of the agency`s ToxCast
program. The new program expands upon a successful proof-of-concept phase begun
in 2007, after which EPA and independent investigators compared the toxicity
profiling data from a wide number of profiling technologies including BioMAP.
BioSeek will now generate BioMAP data on an additional set of chemicals selected
by EPA in order to assess the potential impact of these compounds on the
environment and human health.

Under the new Phase II task order, BioSeek is eligible to receive $1.74 million
over the next year, and remains eligible to participate in both further
downstream phases of the ToxCast program and its eventual implementation. The
specific value of any future orders will depend on the volume of testing
required during the contract period. The results from the ToxCast program will
aid the EPA in prioritizing chemicals with the greatest potential health threat
for additional, more detailed testing in a cost-effective, efficient manner. The
five-year effort, divided into three phases of evaluation, was initiated and is
managed by the EPA`s National Center for Computational Toxicology (NCCT).

"BioSeek`s continued participation in Phase II of ToxCast is a clear signal from
both EPA and independent investigators that BioMAP data is useful in the
characterization of bioactive compounds, regardless of whether those activities
are related to potential therapeutic efficacy or adverse toxicology. The ToxCast
contract with EPA is highly complementary to our drug discovery partnerships
with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, and provides additional
validation of BioMAP`s ability to detect toxicities, characterize the mechanisms
of biologically active compounds and identify potential clinical applications of
drug candidates early in the development process," said Michael C. Venuti,
Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of BioSeek.

BioMAP Systems are primary cell-based models of human disease biology, designed
to replicate the intricate cell and pathway interactions as they are observed in
human pharmacology and toxicology. Depending on their mechanism of action,
compounds induce specific patterns of changes in these systems (BioMAP profiles)
that can be compared to a large number of reference profiles in the BioMAP
Database. Assessment with BioMAP provides early insight into human
pharmacological and toxicological properties of compounds, including on- and
off-target effects, dose responses, and the discrimination of closely related
compounds.

About BioSeek

BioSeek is improving the success rate of pharmaceutical research and development
by integrating human biology from the earliest stages of drug discovery onward.
The company`s BioMAP® Systems incorporate predictive primary human cell-based
disease models that generate uniquely informative activity profiles of each
potential drug, assisting in the selection and development of new drug
candidates. BioSeek is leveraging BioMAP Systems technology in collaborations to
enhance the productivity of its pharmaceutical partners` pipelines, and in the
company`s internal discovery programs. For more information, go to
www.bioseekinc.com.

About the US EPA ToxCast Program

The U.S. EPA ToxCast Program is developing approaches to predict chemical
toxicity using data from high-throughput and high content in vitro assays. The
goal of ToxCast is to develop and verify "toxicity signatures," which are
algorithms using in vitro and in silico data to predict in vivo toxicities.
Phase I of ToxCast has produced data from >300 chemicals, ~500 in vitro assays
and ~100 in vivo endpoints, providing a powerful dataset for evaluating the
applicability of various analytic approaches for predicting the potential for an
adverse response. The initial results from Phase I of the ToxCast program were
presented on May 14-15, 2009 at the First ToxCast Data Analysis Summit held in
Research Triangle Park, NC. Phase II of the ToxCast program will expand on and
verify the ability of this approach to predict potential human toxicity. In
Phase III, ToxCastTM will expand the list to thousands of environmental
chemicals, delivering an affordable, science-based system for decision-makers to
prioritize chemicals for more detailed toxicological evaluations.

For more information, please visit http://www.epa.gov/ncct/toxcast/

BioSeek
Michael C. Venuti, Ph.D., CEO, 650-416-7600
info@bioseekinc.com
or
Media Relations for BioSeek
Shari Annes, 650-888-0902
Shari.Annes@gmail.com

Copyright Business Wire 2009