The SNP Consortium today announced that Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT), a global leader in wireless communications, semiconductors and advanced electronics systems, is joining its collaborative effort to create a public database of gene markers that will enhance understanding of the biological basis for disease. Motorola thus becomes the first technology company to join 10 leading pharmaceutical companies and the Wellcome Trust in the two-year, $48 million initiative to identify and analyze genetic markers known as single nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs (pronounced "snips"). "Motorola has been at the forefront of many technologies that fundamentally changed people's lives," said Arthur Holden, chairman and CEO of The SNP Consortium. "Enlisting a proven leader like Motorola to The SNP Consortium speaks to the practical applications that will result from SNP initiatives. The organization will ultimately create a powerful research tool with the potential to change the practice of medicine." In April The SNP Consortium announced its plan to construct a high-density and high-quality map of SNPs -- the minute genetic variations that occur frequently throughout human DNA. The availability of such a map will help medical researchers pinpoint genetic differences that predispose some but not others to disease, and underlie variability in individual response to treatment. Such knowledge will permit the development of genetic- based diagnostics and therapeutics, and lead to an era of "personalized" medicine, in which treatments will be targeted to patients' unique genetic profiles. The Consortium intends to identify 300,000 and map at least 150,000 SNPs by April 2001. As SNPs are mapped, they will be placed in the public domain, providing free and unrestricted access to biomedical researchers worldwide. In 1998, Motorola officially entered the genomics arena by creating a specialized unit within the company, Motorola BioChip Systems (BCS), to develop advanced computer chips and systems capable of rapidly performing and analyzing thousands of biochemical reactions. Leveraging the company's capabilities in mass manufacturing, systems integration and electronics, Motorola BCS is developing products to link the promise of genomics into practical solutions for disease prevention and treatment. Motorola has announced partnerships with Argonne National Labs, Clinical Micro Sensors, Genometrix, Orchid Biocomputer, Packard Instruments and Rockefeller University. "Motorola is a welcome addition to The SNP Consortium," according to Allen Roses, MD, Vice President and Worldwide Director, Genetics Directorate, Glaxo Wellcome. "Motorola is a company that has applied its core competencies to lead many industries to realize their full potential. Technology to read the SNP map substantially strengthens this initiative, and underscores the evolution of high density SNP mapping to become a widely accepted research tool." The SNP map that is constructed will be used to conduct association studies, in which SNP patterns from a target population (for example, patients afflicted with a particular disease) are compared with SNP patterns from unaffected populations to find genetic variations shared only by the affected group. These variations may then form the basis for development of diagnostic tests as well as new therapies. However, for such an approach to become broadly applicable to the diagnosis and treatment of disease will require the commercialization of cost-effective technologies to screen massive amounts of genetic information rapidly and accurately. "Motorola is excited to be a member of The SNP Consortium," said Nicholas Naclerio, Vice President and General Manager of Motorola BioChip Systems. "The SNP initiative will lead to the discovery of critical information needed by medical researchers and pharmaceutical industry scientists to aid in understanding and potentially improving the treatment of disease. Motorola BCS plans to further these efforts through the development of total systems and technologies that will improve the capacity to analyze genetic information and make practical the applications of this knowledge. Such advances ultimately will improve the quality of lives of millions." A unit of Motorola, Motorola BioChip Systems (BCS) is pioneering the development of products to link the promise of genomics into practical solutions. Motorola is a global leader in providing integrated communications solutions and embedded electronic solutions. These include: software-enhanced wireless telephone, two-way radio, messaging and satellite communications products and systems, as well as networking and Internet-access products, for consumers, network operators, and commercial, government and industrial customers; embedded semiconductor solutions for customers in the consumer, networking and computing, transportation and wireless communications markets; and embedded electronic systems for automotive, communications, imaging, manufacturing systems, computer and consumer markets. Sales in 1998 were $29.4 billion. Visit Motorola at http://www.motorola.com . The SNP Consortium is organized as a non-profit entity whose goal is to create and make publicly available a high-quality SNP map of the human genome. The Consortium's members include the Wellcome Trust, Motorola BioChip Systems, and ten pharmaceutical companies: AstraZeneca PLC, Bayer AG, Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, F. Hoffmann-La Roche, Glaxo Wellcome PLC, Hoechst Marion Roussel AG, Novartis, Pfizer Inc, Searle, and SmithKline Beecham PLC. Academic centers including the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, the Wellcome Trust's Sanger Centre, Stanford Human Genome Center, and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, are involved in SNP identification and analysis. ots Original Text Service: The SNP Consortium Internet: http://www.newsaktuell.de Contact: Mary Prescott of BSMG Medical & Health Communications (USA) 312- 397- 6604, or mprescot@bsmg.com, for The SNP Consortium; or Michelle Hellyar of Corporate Technology Communications (USA) 312-832- 9300, ext. 217, or mhellyar@ctcomm.com, for Motorola