454 Installs Twenty GS20 Systems in the First Year of Sales

454 Life Sciences Corporation, subsidiary of CuraGen Corporation, has announced that in 2005 a total of twenty Genome Sequencer 20 systems were purchased by and installed with customers world-wide.

The Genome Sequencer 20 system was developed by 454 Life Sciences and recognized by the Wall Street Journal with the overall and biotechnology Gold Medals in its 2005 Technology Innovation Awards.

Beginning in October 2005, the Genome System 20 System and reagents have been distributed worldwide by Roche Applied Science, a business unit of Roche Diagnostics.

Chris McLeod, President and CEO of 454 Life Sciences comments, "We are pleased to have Roche Applied Science as our exclusive distribution partner and research collaborator."

"In the fourth quarter, we more than doubled the number of installed instrument systems at research centers around the world and have had repeat customers currently using multiple GS20 systems."

"This has been one of our most successful product launches ever," commented Volker Pfahlert, Head of Roche Applied Science.

"It is clear that the Genome Sequencer 20 system addresses the need for rapid, high-throughput sequencing in numerous life science applications."

454 Life Sciences financial results for 2005 and guidance for 2006 will be reported on February 2, 2006 in conjunction with CuraGen Corporation's fourth quarter and 2005 year-end results press release.