The Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust and Flinn Foundation Launch
$45 million Initiative to Develop Personalized Diagnostics


Nobel laureate Dr. Lee Hartwell, TGen and the Biodesign Institute at
ASU to lead Arizona-based global effort to improve patient outcomes
and reduce health care costs

10-17-2007

PHOENIX, Oct. 17, 2007 -- Two Arizona-based philanthropic
organizations have committed $45 million to fund an innovative
initiative to develop personalized molecular diagnostics. The ability
to diagnose and treat disease based on every person's unique
physiological makeup is critical to enabling physicians to improve
health outcomes while at the same time reducing medical costs.
Under the Partnership for Personalized Medicine, The Virginia G.
Piper Charitable Trust has committed $35 million and the Flinn
Foundation has granted $10 million to bring together a wide range of
resources to advance a global personalized medicine initiative.

World-renowned scientist Dr. Lee Hartwell, 2001 Nobel laureate and
director of Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, has been
recruited to lead this effort. The Hutchinson Center, based in
Seattle, is a leader in using molecular diagnostics for the early
detection and clinical management of cancer and other diseases. In
addition to his current position as president and director of Fred
Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, he will chair the Partnership
executive committee, which includes Dr. George Poste, director of the
Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University, and Dr. Jeffrey
Trent, president and scientific director of the Translational
Genomics Research Institute (TGen).

"It is a tremendous opportunity for me to be a part of this new model
for improving health while reducing health care costs that is being
funded by the Piper and Flinn foundations," Hartwell said. "The
collaboration between TGen, the Biodesign Institute at ASU, other
institutions in Arizona and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
brings together enormous expertise to tackle major challenges in
bringing new science and technology to disease management."

The cornerstone of the Partnership is the creation of the Virginia G.
Piper Center for Personalized Diagnostics that draws upon the
scientific strengths of two of the state's leading bioscience
entities, TGen and the Biodesign Institute at ASU, each of which will
contribute significant laboratory space to the effort. The Piper
Center will utilize bioinformatics and high-performance computing
expertise at both institutions, existing nanotechnology and imaging
expertise at the Biodesign Institute, and supercomputing resources
through ASU's Ira A. Fulton School of Engineering.

Additionally, an industrial scale, high-throughput proteomics
production facility will be established that taps expertise at both
TGen and the Biodesign Institute at ASU in robotics, protein analysis
and computing.

Hartwell's involvement provides the Piper Center with opportunity to
draw on the Hutchinson Center's extensive capabilities in health
economics and the design of clinical and public-health trials through
consultative and collaborative relationships.

"The Piper trustees made this investment because Dr. Hartwell has a
vision to transform the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of
disease," said Dr. Judy Jolley Mohraz, president and CEO of the Piper
Trust. "That vision draws together scientists, clinicians, engineers,
statisticians, insurers and regulators to work collectively to make
health care more targeted and affordable. This initiative holds the
promise of making a difference in the quality of life for people here
in Arizona and throughout the world."

According to John Murphy, president and CEO of the Flinn Foundation,
biomarker discovery and diagnostic development could ultimately lead
to earlier disease detection and more precise disease management. "To
leverage Arizona's institutional assets, the Flinn Foundation's grant
commitment to TGen will link Arizona's research universities, health
care providers, research institutes and industry partners throughout
the state to support the collection and storage of biospecimens and
drive Arizona-centric demonstration projects," Murphy said.

Approximately 50 percent of the Flinn Fund for Arizona Proteomics
Research will be available to promote research collaborations to
leverage the state's significant institutional resources in this
field, Murphy added, with the balance supporting the creation of a
high-throughput proteomics production facility.

Proteomics is a promising and cutting-edge field that studies
proteins and their functions in the body. The proteomics production
facility will focus on discovering new proteins for the development
of diagnostic tests for patients with cancer or other illnesses.
These tests could ultimately lead to earlier disease detection and
more precise disease management.

Even though the necessary technologies to develop personalized
diagnostic tests are available, barriers such as the expense of
clinical trials and difficulty obtaining clinical samples have
significantly slowed the development process. The Partnership will
focus on the development, testing and validation of new molecular
diagnostic tools and the approval and distribution of these tools for
widespread clinical use. This will be accomplished through a series
of collaborative demonstration projects that integrate key health
organizations.

"The Holy Grail of personalized medicine includes blood-based tests
that improve diagnosis and help direct clinical care," said
Trent. "The unparalleled opportunity the Partnership provides is to
expand the magnitude of proteomic studies across a spectrum of key
clinical questions."

The Partnership includes recruitment of new faculty and will engage
national and international partners to ensure developments are
rapidly commercialized.

"With the team of scientific and clinical research excellence we are
assembling, our goal is to transform medicine from the current 'one
size fits all' approach to one that is targeted around a patient's
unique genetic and molecular profile," Poste said.

Partnerships formed with large health care systems and disease-
focused foundations will facilitate the implementation and validation
of molecular diagnostics in clinical settings, as well as close
ongoing interaction between scientists and clinicians. Health care
systems will benefit from newly developed diagnostics through the
most cost-effective use of medical treatments, while patients and the
public in general will enjoy greater overall health outcomes.

ASU President Michael Crow added that this endeavor "promises to
become a shining example of how multiple partners can work together
to address a critical need in human health and accelerate solutions
that extend beyond our own community."

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About The Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust
A private foundation, The Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust is
dedicated to honoring Virginia Galvin Piper's philanthropic
commitment to changing lives and strengthening community in Maricopa
County. By investing in nonprofits and encouraging strategic planning
for the future, the Trust strives to make Maricopa County a stronger,
more nurturing and vibrant community. For more information, visit
www.pipertrust.org.

About the Flinn Foundation
The Flinn Foundation is an independent grant-making charity
established by a Phoenix physician and his wife (Robert S. and Irene
P. Flinn) in 1965. It is dedicated to improving the quality of life
in Arizona principally by advancing the medical sciences. It fulfills
this mission through its support of various scientific and
educational programs and activities, including the Flinn Scholars
program. For more information, visit www.flinn.org.

About TGen
TGen is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization focused on developing
earlier diagnoses and smarter treatments. Translational genomics
research is a relatively new field employing innovative advances
arising from the Human Genome Project and applying them to the
development of diagnostics, prognostics and therapies for cancer,
neurological disorders, diabetes and other complex diseases. TGen's
research is based on personalized medicine. The institute plans to
accomplish its goals through robust and disease-focused research. For
more information, visit www.tgen.org.

About the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University
The Biodesign Institute at ASU integrates diverse fields of science
to cure and prevent disease, overcome the limitations of injury,
renew the environment and improve national security. By fusing
research in biology, engineering, medicine, physics, information
technology and cognitive science, the institute accelerates
discoveries into uses that can be adopted rapidly by the private
sector. For more information, visit www.biodesign.asu.edu.

About Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
At Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, interdisciplinary teams of
world-renowned scientists and humanitarians work together to prevent,
diagnose and treat cancer, HIV/AIDS and other diseases. Hutchinson
Center researchers, including three Nobel laureates, bring a
relentless pursuit and passion for health, knowledge and hope to
their work and to the world. For more information, visit
www.fhcrc.org.