Milestone Achieved A Year Ahead of Schedule

ST. LOUIS and RICHMOND, Calif., Jan. 12 — Sangamo BioSciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: SGMO) today announced it has reached a major production capacity milestone as part of its agreement with Sigma-Aldrich Corporation (Nasdaq: SIAL) to commercialize zinc finger nuclease reagents (ZFNs) for research applications. The milestone triggers a payment of $1.0 million to Sangamo.

“Reaching this production milestone more than one year ahead of schedule represents an important step in our plans to develop high value ZFN research reagents for our customers,” said Dr. David Smoller, President of Sigma-Aldrich’s Research Biotech Business Unit. “Our CompoZr(TM) ZFN platform of reagents has captured the interest of the biotechnology research community. CompoZr reagents provide researchers with the ability to target and precisely manipulate the genome of living cells, resulting in cell lines or whole organisms with defined gene deletions, insertions, or corrections. ZFNs can be designed to target any gene in any organism and used to rapidly make precise changes to a cell’s characteristics. Our aim is to provide CompoZr reagents to any investigator’s ‘favorite gene’. As the exclusive licensee and distributor of ZFN-based reagents for research purposes, we are pleased with Sangamo’s robust and scalable approach that is helping us meet the high demand for ZFN reagents.”

The ability to selectively modify or control specific genes is emerging as a critical tool in modern biotechnology. Zinc finger DNA-binding proteins (ZFPs) are the dominant class of naturally-occurring transcription factors in organisms from yeast to humans. Transcription factors, which are found in the nucleus of every cell, bind to DNA to regulate gene expression. Though there are many kinds of transcription factors, only ZFPs are amenable to engineering and precise targeting to a particular gene, or genes, of interest. By engineering ZFPs that recognize a specific DNA sequence, Sangamo scientists have enabled researchers to precisely modify targeted genes and control gene expression. This technology has the potential to play a major role in bringing new discoveries in genomics to the marketplace.

“Our ZFN technology is the gold standard for genome editing in cells and whole organisms,” said Edward Lanphier, Sangamo’s President and CEO. “There is a growing appreciation of the numerous applications of ZFP-based reagents in functional genomics, target validation, drug discovery, process improvement in biopharmaceutical manufacturing and the generation of transgenic animals. We are delighted with the progress that has been made in our collaboration with Sigma-Aldrich. Familiarity and success with our technology at the research level should lead to commercial success in this field as well as an appreciation of the broad therapeutic uses of our technology platform.”

Sigma-Aldrich’s agreement with Sangamo Biosciences, initiated in July 2007, provides Sigma-Aldrich with the exclusive right to utilize Sangamo’s ZFP technology to develop and commercialize products for use as research reagents and to offer services in the research field. Sigma-Aldrich’s CompoZr gene-editing technology was recently recognized as one of the Top 10 Innovations of 2008 by The Scientist and was included in the magazine’s inaugural list of the most outstanding products to enter the life sciences market. For more information on Sigma-Aldrich’s CompoZr ZFN technology platform, visit https://www.compozrzfn.com or contact a sales representative at zfn@sial.com.