Fisher Biosciences Licenses Expanded PCR Rights from Applied Biosystems

Fisher Biosciences announced today that, through Fisher
Scientific, it has entered into an expanded PCR (polymerase chain
reaction) licensing agreement with Applied Biosystems, an Applera
Corporation business. Under the agreement, Fisher Biosciences will
develop new real-time PCR and PCR-related reagents.
   The agreement gives Fisher access to patents not covered in
Applied Biosystems' original licensing program. For example, the
expanded program enables ABgene, a unit of Fisher Biosciences and a
licensee under the original program since 1994, to offer optimized
reagents and kits for a wide range of PCR and real-time PCR
instruments. The new agreement also allows ABgene to develop a broad
range of new real-time PCR reagent products and technologies through
collaboration with other Fisher Biosciences units.
   "We are excited by the value that real-time PCR brings to our
customers in the rapidly growing life science research market," said
Ron Lowy, President and Chief Executive Officer of Fisher Biosciences.
"With this expanded license, we are well-positioned to respond to our
customers' needs. As always, we are committed to developing new
products and technologies that serve the changing demands of science."
   PCR is a key technology in life science research in which a
segment of DNA or RNA is copied or "amplified" so that it can be more
readily analyzed. Real-time PCR enables the detection of amplified DNA
during the process of amplification rather than at the end, providing
greater accuracy in applications such as gene expression
quantification and genotyping.
   Although the foundational patents covering the PCR process expired
in the United States in March 2005 and elsewhere in March 2006,
numerous other patents related to PCR remain in force. These surviving
patents cover, for example, enzyme compositions and certain real-time
PCR methods and kits. Applied Biosystems will continue to offer
licenses to these patents.

   About Fisher Biosciences

   Fisher Biosciences, a unit of Fisher Scientific International
Inc. (NYSE: FSH), manufactures and supplies a wide range of products
and services across the general-chemistry and life-sciences arenas.
From fine and high-purity chemicals, clinical diagnostics, proprietary
protein-research and cell-culture products, and
sterile-liquid-handling systems, to innovative RNA-interference
technology and high content screening, Fisher Biosciences serves
scientific-research, healthcare, drug-discovery, and general
industrial customers around the world. For more information please
visit www.fisherbiosci.com.

   About ABgene

   ABgene(R), a business unit within the Fisher Biosciences group,
produces specialist products for nucleic acid amplification and
biostorage. ABgene rapidly responds to the needs of the continually
developing markets of drug discovery, genomic and forensic research
and biological archiving. ABgene's product lines include PCR and QPCR
reagents, molecular biology consumables and instrumentation designed
to complement each other for increased productivity. ABgene is
headquartered in Surrey, U.K. For more information about ABgene
products visit www.abgene.com or call [phone].