Nanogen's Ludvigson blazing technology trails

Acquisitions, collaborations,
restructuring goals. Nanogen's acquisitions and collaborations
are integral to building a worldwide in vitro
diagnostics company that is bringing new and innovative solutions to
healthcare providers in the areas of infectious disease and cardiac
care. Our mission is to enhance the capability of physicians to improve
the health of patients by detecting or monitoring health conditions. Our
recently announced merger with the Elitech Group, based in Europe,
increases our global reach and also extends our products to the clinical
chemistry and microbiology markets. Our mutual goal is to build on the
trend to decentralization of patient testing with products that are
suitable for small and mid-sized laboratories as well as point-of-care
testing (POCT). We think it is very important to reduce the time from
patient visit to diagnosis as well as to reduce cost. Providing better
tools to the physician and local testing laboratories is a critical part
of that equation.

CDC contracts and disease challenges.
A new two-year contract from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) is actually the second awarded to Nanogen for influenza
testing. The first award is for development of a POC rapid test to
differentiate influenza and identify potentially pandemic strains. We
anticipate the two products being used in tandem. The rapid test will
quickly screen patient status and identify any unusual conditions. The
molecular test will be run in the lab to further validate or define the
disease condition. Nanogen has a strong product offering in molecular
diagnostic tests for critical infections such as CMV and EBV. The
development of influenza tests is complementary and builds upon our
expertise and technology for highly specific and sensitive testing
solutions.

History with academia to find solutions.
We like to work with academic as well as philanthropic groups on
emerging health issues. This type of involvement does two things for us.
First, we are able to stay abreast of the changing needs and concerns of
the worldwide healthcare community. I think history shows us that there
are global implications for infectious diseases that arise in developing
countries. Second, this type of work provides us a vehicle for further
developing our technology and products in areas that might not meet our
immediate business objectives but have longer term value.

Support for young people and educators in
lab industry. Nanogen works closely with the Department of
Bioengineering at the University of California-San Diego to provide
support for education and research. We also routinely open
laboratory-assistant positions for current university students that may
be temporary or part time to help in our R&D laboratories. Additionally,
we believe it is important to support the teachers in our public schools
who are teaching our future employees. We have been a participant in the
San Diego Workforce Partnership/ BIOCOM Life Sciences Summer Institute
Teacher Program, which provides teachers the opportunity to spend time
interacting with employees and learning about developments in
life-science organizations.