Geneart AG (OJ:G6A) GENEART Receives Major Contract From The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute

Geneart AG (OJ:G6A) - The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute awards a major contract on synthesizing up to 600 genes over the next 10 months to GENEART - The supplied genes will be used in the research program of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute - The research program's goal is to identify mechanisms involved in defined genetic and infectious diseases

Regensburg, November 26, 2008 - GENEART AG, world market leader for gene synthesis and specialist in Synthetic Biology, announces the closing of a major contract with the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, UK. GENEART will synthesize up to 600 tailor-made genes for the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute's research program under this contract. The genes will be used to identify mechanisms involved in defined genetic and infectious disease. The terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

"We are very pleased that GENEART was selected for this project by the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute during a tendering process. This emphasizes yet again our leading position in the market for gene synthesis. Worldwide largest capacities and our broad service portfolio allow us to meet specific customer requirements, even for large-scale contracts, in the shortest periods of time", stated Prof. Dr. Ralf Wagner, CEO of GENEART AG.

The program of research at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute uses large-scale technologies to understand the role of genes in health and disease and create lasting resources for biomedical research. By developing high throughput technologies to detect networks of extracellular protein interactions, the institute has identified new signaling pathways important for vertebrate development. The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute is now expanding the program of research to identify novel human extracellular receptor-ligand interactions involved in genetic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and also infectious diseases. This program of research will involve screening for interactions within protein libraries that constitute the cell surface receptor repertoire of differentiated human blood cells, and also some pathogens. The protein libraries will also be used to determine the functional consequences of the identified interactions in cell-based assays.

For further inquiries, please contact:

Bernd Merkl GENEART AG Josef-Engert-Str. 11 93053 Regensburg Germany Phone: +49-(0)941-942 76-638 Fax: +49-(0)941-942 76-711 ir@geneart.com www.geneart.com

Frank Ostermair Better Orange IR & HV AG Haidelweg 48 81241 Munich Germany Phone: +49-(0)89-8896906-10 Fax: +49-(0)89-8896906-66 info@better-orange.de www.better-orange.de

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. Our production and service spectrum spans a wide range, from the production of synthetic genes according to DIN EN ISO 9001:2000, to the creation of gene libraries in the combinatorial biology, to the development and production of DNA-based biologically active substances. GENEART AG in Regensburg (Germany) and the subsidiaries GENEART Inc. in Toronto (Canada) and GENEART Inc. in San Francisco (USA) employ more than 190 people. GENEART is listed on the German Stock Exchange.

This announcement was originally distributed by Hugin. The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement.



LINK: http://hugin.info/136633/R/1272901/282696.pdf

Geneart AG

http://www.geneart.com

ISIN: DE000A0JJ4L4

Stock Identifier: XFRA.G6A