KOBE, Japan, August 8 /PRNewswire/ --

Carna Biosciences, Inc. ("Carna") is pleased to announce the signing of a collaborative agreement with Caliper Life Sciences, Inc. USA ("Caliper") on August 6 (US Eastern Daylight Time). Carna will supply a set of discrete protein kinases aiding the expansion of Caliper's kinase profiling and assay development services, and ProfilerPro Kinase Selectivity Assay Kits. Caliper's products and services are widely used and highly regarded by leading pharmaceutical and biotech companies. The selection of Carna as a Preferred Provider enhances the visibility and use of Carna's products in the area of kinase inhibitor drug discovery -- a major focus of targeted therapy in the areas of cancer, neurological, and autoimmune diseases.

"I am proud of the expression and purification technologies that Carna has developed in order to produce nearly 300 human kinases to date, and even more pleased that Caliper has selected Carna Biosciences as a principle supplier for Caliper's ProfilerPro Kits," said Kohichiro Yoshino, President and CEO of Carna Biosciences. "Caliper is an established and reliable partner to the pharmaceutical and biotech industry.

Working with Caliper provides Carna with access to a wealth of new opportunities to expand sales of protein kinases throughout the worldwide market. This synergistic impact of combining Caliper's advanced instrumentation with the wide selection and premier quality reagents provided by Carna will greatly benefit both companies and their clients. We anticipate that this expanded relationship with Caliper will further position us to explore R&D Partnerships with global biopharmaceutical companies.

About Carna Biosciences, Inc.

Carna Biosciences, Inc. (www.carnabio.com), founded in April 2003, is a Japanese biotechnology company conducting intercellular signaling-based drug discovery programs, as well as providing drug discovery services to pharmaceutical companies, using proprietary technologies in gene cloning, active kinase protein expression, protein purification and homogeneous assay development.

The company provides products and services including protein kinases, profiling and screening services, assay development services and crystallography products and services.

About Caliper Life Sciences, Inc.

Caliper Life Sciences, Inc. (www.caliperls.com) is a premier provider of cutting-edge technologies enabling researchers in the life sciences industry to create life-saving and enhancing medicines and diagnostic tests more quickly and efficiently. Caliper is aggressively innovating new technology to bridge the gap between in vitro assays and in vivo results and then translating those results into cures for human disease. Caliper's portfolio of offerings includes state-of-the-art microfluidics, lab automation & liquid handling, optical imaging technologies, and discovery & development outsourcing solutions.

Contact: Tomohisa Yamazaki, Manager Corporate Planning Carna Biosciences, Inc. Phone: +81-78-302-7039 Fax: +81-78-302-6665 E-mail: ir-team@carnabio.com URL: http://www.carnabio.com Web site: http://www.carnabio.com http://www.caliperls.com

Tomohisa Yamazaki, Manager, Corporate Planning, Carna Biosciences, Inc., +81-78-302-7039, Fax: +81-78-302-6665, ir-team@carnabio.com