ISIS Pharmaceuticals' and Biogen idec's innovative collaboration voted breakthrough alliance of 2014

CARLSBAD, Calif., April 30, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: ISIS) announced today that the strategic alliance between Isis and Biogen Idec (NASDAQ:BIIB) has been honored with the Alliance 2014 Breakthrough Award.  The award, sponsored by Thomson Reuters Recap, was presented at the Allicense 2014 Conference in San Francisco on April 29, 2014.    

"We are grateful for the award and recognition of our innovative and productive partnership with Isis," said Richard Brudnick, vice president and co-head of business development at Biogen Idec. "We believe our collaborations with Isis hold great potential for the discovery of novel targets and the development of important new therapeutics to treat serious neurological disorders."

"Our business strategy maximizes the value of our antisense technology and our drugs in development by collaborating with partners that have complementary development expertise.  Through the successes of our partnerships, we have raised substantial financing that supports our development efforts and leverages our partners' skills to advance antisense drugs into new therapeutic areas. This is the third time we have been recognized by our peers in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry as an innovative and collaborative company," said B. Lynne Parshall, chief operating officer at Isis Pharmaceuticals.  "This award is especially befitting as our collaboration with Biogen Idec combines the unique strengths of each partner to develop novel therapies for neurological disorders with unmet medical needs.  With three previous partnerships, we have created a strong and successful relationship with Biogen Idec.  Indeed, our collaborations have already significantly enhanced the development of our spinal muscular atrophy and myotonic dystrophy programs.  We look forward to advancing new treatments for neurological disorders into the clinic and achieving further success in our collaborations with Biogen Idec."    

Biogen Idec and Isis have established four collaborations focused on leveraging antisense technology to advance the treatment of neurological and neuromuscular disorders.  This alliance combines Isis's expertise in antisense technology to evaluate potential neurological targets and discover antisense drugs with Biogen Idec's capability to develop therapies for neurological disorders.  Isis is primarily responsible for drug discovery and early development of antisense therapies.  Biogen Idec has the option to license each antisense program at a particular stage in development.  Current development-stage programs include antisense drugs to treat spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), ISIS-SMN_Rx, and myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1), ISIS-DMPK_Rx.

Annually, the Allicense Conference nominates five biotech-pharmaceutical alliances as the breakthrough deals of the previous year. The winning deal is determined by votes from biotech and pharmaceutical business development and licensing executives.

ABOUT ISIS PHARMACEUTICALS, INC.

Isis is exploiting its leadership position in antisense technology to discover and develop novel drugs for its product pipeline and for its partners.  Isis' broad pipeline consists of 32 drugs to treat a wide variety of diseases with an emphasis on cardiovascular, metabolic, severe and rare diseases, including neurological disorders, and cancer.  Isis' partner, Genzyme, is commercializing Isis' lead product, KYNAMRO^®, in the United States and other countries for the treatment of patients with homozygous FH.  Isis' patents provide strong and extensive protection for its drugs and technology.  Additional information about Isis is available at www.isispharm.com.

ISIS PHARMACEUTICALS' FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENT

This press release includes forward-looking statements regarding Isis' broad strategic alliance with Biogen Idec, the therapeutic and commercial potential of Isis' technologies and products in development.  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.  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, and in the endeavor of building a business around such drugs.  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, 2013, which is 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.    KYNAMRO^® is a registered trademark of Genzyme Corporation.

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SOURCE Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.