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Mirus and TaKaRa Bio Initiate Distributor Partnership

MADISON, Wis., March 31, 2003 - Starting today, Mirus Corporation will be responsible for the distribution of the TaKaRa Bio (Kyoto, Japan) products in North and South America. This product distribution arrangement was transferred from PanVera Corporation (as part of their acquisition by Invitrogen) to Mirus. Located in the University of Wisconsin Research Park, Mirus is an industry leader in the area of gene delivery and already has its own product distribution network. Mirus' role in managing the TaKaRa products is a temporary one. Later this year, TaKaRa and Mirus will create a new company that will secure the distribution of the TaKaRa product line and also collaborate on the development of new gene delivery technologies for use in human gene therapy. TaKaRa Bio is one of Japan's largest life science companies and is well known for its broad line of PCR, cell and molecular biology products.

"Acquiring the TaKaRa product line in 1993 was a major milestone in PanVera's early struggles to reach credibility as a start up company. TaKaRa, one of the largest life science companies in Japan, has been a strong partner to Madison's biotech industry over the past ten years," explained Terry Sivesind, President of Mirus. "Invitrogen's and Vertex' commitment to maintain this business and the associated jobs in Madison was just fantastic. This business could easily have just disappeared except for some great cooperation from those two companies and TaKaRa."

The end result of a very rapid negotiation will be a new biotech company in Madison with a significant Japanese partner in TaKaRa. As part of this agreement, Mirus hired four PanVera employees and will look to hire additional employees as the new company is created.

For more information, contact Terry Sivesind at Mirus, Tel. (608) 238-7674 or terry.sivesind@genetransfer.com.

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