Isis Announces Approximately $2.8 Million in Government Grants and Contracts Awarded to its Ibis Subsidiary to Advance Ibis' Pat

CARLSBAD, Calif., Feb. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ISIS) announced today that its majority-owned subsidiary, Ibis Biosciences, Inc. (Ibis), has been awarded two new Phase 2 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants and a new government contract totaling up to approximately $2.8 million. The SBIR grants awarded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Army will fund advancements in the Ibis T5000(TM) Biosensor System for new biodefense applications, including the detection and identification of infectious agents within the military blood supply. The contract from the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate (DHS-S&T) adds to a contract awarded in September 2007 from the same agency for the advancement of Ibis' microbial forensics applications and the enhancement of Ibis' microbial database.

"The ongoing government support we received enables us to broaden the utility of the T5000 System in new applications such as blood supply screening, where there is a need to expand the breadth of screening technologies to identify all important organisms," said Michael Treble, President of Ibis and Vice President of Isis. "The additional contract funding from DHS-S&T will expedite the expansion of our microbial database of pathogens."

The SBIR grants fund the application of the Ibis T5000 Biosensor System into new areas of biothreat detection, including the identification of bacteria, viruses and parasites that might cause disease in active military forces or contaminate the military blood supply.

"We have earned nearly $70 million in revenue to fund development of our infectious disease identification and characterization technology. This $2.8 million and other ongoing government contracts will continue to fund advancements in our technology, which we can incorporate into our commercial products for various government, epidemiology and clinical research applications, and eventually into our products targeting larger commercial markets such as clinical diagnostics. We believe that this business model has enabled us to develop an innovative, robust and valuable technology," concluded Mr. Treble .

ABOUT THE IBIS T5000 BIOSENSOR SYSTEM AND IBIS BIOSCIENCES, INC.

Ibis Biosciences, Inc., a majority-owned subsidiary of Isis Pharmaceuticals, has developed and is commercializing the Ibis T5000(TM) Biosensor System for rapid identification and characterization of infectious agents. The Ibis T5000 is currently intended for research use only and not for use in diagnostic procedures. It is capable of identifying virtually all bacteria, viruses and fungi, and can provide information about drug resistance, virulence and strain type of these pathogens. Commercial applications for the Ibis T5000 Biosensor System include epidemiologic surveillance, monitoring of pandemic diseases, identification of emerging or previously unknown pathogens, forensic characterization of human samples, identification of sources of hospital-associated infections, and, in the future, human infectious disease diagnostics. Ibis develops, manufactures and markets Ibis T5000 instruments and assay kits, including through its partner, Bruker Daltonics, a subsidiary of Bruker BioSciences Corporation. Additional information about Ibis can be found by selecting the Ibis link from Isis' homepage at http://www.isispharm.com.

ABOUT ISIS PHARMACEUTICALS, INC.

Isis is exploiting its expertise in RNA to discover and develop novel drugs for its product pipeline and for its partners. The Company has successfully commercialized the world's first antisense drug and has 18 drugs in development. Isis' drug development programs are focused on treating cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. Isis' partners are developing antisense drugs invented by Isis to treat a wide variety of diseases. Ibis Biosciences, Inc., Isis' majority-owned subsidiary, is developing and commercializing the Ibis T5000(TM) Biosensor System, a revolutionary system to identify infectious organisms. Isis is a joint owner of Regulus Therapeutics LLC, a joint venture focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of microRNA therapeutics. As an innovator in RNA-based drug discovery and development, Isis is the owner or exclusive licensee of over 1,500 issued patents worldwide. Additional information about Isis is available at http://www.isispharm.com.

This press release includes forward-looking statements regarding the development and commercialization of the Ibis T5000 Biosensor System, Ibis' technology, and the revenue potential of certain government contracts. Any statement describing Isis' goals, expectations, financial or other projections, intentions or beliefs is a forward-looking statement and should be considered an at-risk statement, including those statements that are described as Isis' goals or projections. Such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, particularly those inherent in the process of discovering, developing and commercializing drugs that are safe and effective for use as human therapeutics, in developing and commercializing systems to identify infectious organisms that are effective and commercially attractive, and in the endeavor of building a business around such products. Isis' forward-looking statements also involve assumptions that, if they never materialize or prove correct, could cause its results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Although Isis' forward-looking statements reflect the good faith judgment of its management, these statements are based only on facts and factors currently known by Isis. As a result, you are cautioned not to rely on these forward-looking statements. These and other risks concerning Isis' programs are described in additional detail in Isis' annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2006 , and its quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2007 , which are on file with the SEC. Copies of this and other documents are available from the Company.

In this press release, unless the context requires otherwise, "Isis," "Company," "we," "our," and "us" refers to Isis Pharmaceuticals and its subsidiaries.

Isis Pharmaceuticals is a registered trademark of Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Ibis Biosciences and Ibis T5000 are trademarks of Ibis Biosciences, Inc. Regulus Therapeutics is a trademark of Regulus Therapeutics LLC.

SOURCE Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.