Scottsdale Healthcare, TGen announce strategic alliance

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Alliance brings translational medicine into the community

10-20-2005

SCOTTSDALE – Scottsdale Healthcare today announced a strategic
alliance with the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen)
in which Scottsdale Healthcare will become a primary clinical
research site for TGen.
Opening Oct. 24, the TGen Clinical Research Services (TCRS) will
include a Genomics Medicine and Individual Therapy Center and a
Pancreatic Cancer Center, and will be located in the Virginia G.
Piper Cancer Center at Scottsdale Healthcare. Additional clinical
research programs focused on other cancer types are planned in the
near future.

Daniel D. Von Hoff, MD, TGen's Senior Investigator and Director of
the Translational Drug Development Division will serve as medical
research leader of TCRS. As the new program grows it is expected to
move into a larger space in the Cancer Center's adjoining Research
Pavilion.

"The TGen-Scottsdale Healthcare alliance embodies our vision of
setting the standard for excellence in personalized healthcare,"
said Tom Sadvary, president & CEO. "The combination of world-class
researchers, community physicians and university faculty in the
Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center provides unprecedented access to new
therapies for the citizens of Arizona."

Valley residents will be among the first to benefit from new
treatments for disease. "The TCRS will bring new clinical research
into the community, and those patients who would otherwise have to
travel someplace else for access to new therapies or prevention
agents," said Dr. Von Hoff.

According to Dr. Von Hoff, the strategic alliance will allow
molecular and genomic discoveries made by TGen and others around the
world to reach the patient bedside as quickly as possible. Clinical
trials with agents directed at specific targets in patients' tumors
will be launched November 1, 2005. Phase I clinical trials of two
new cancer drugs will also be launched in November.

"We are seeing over 2300 newly diagnosed cancer patients each year
at Scottsdale Healthcare alone, and a number of these could benefit
from the research conducted through this new alliance," said Susan
Brown, associate vice president for oncology services at Scottsdale
Healthcare. Additional physician researchers are being recruited to
support TCRS, she said.

"We are honing in on the pathways to help tailor the right drug to
the right patient through molecular profiling," said Dr. Von
Hoff. "This new era of personalized genomic medicine offers the
ability to examine patients' tumors for molecular targets, and treat
those patients' tumors with more specialized therapeutics that have
potentially fewer side effects."

According to the National Institutes for Health, only 3% of adults
with cancer are participating in clinical trials. A recent study
shows that if given the opportunity and access to clinical trials,
63% of the population would participate, according to a survey by
the Charlton Research Co.

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About Scottsdale Healthcare
Scottsdale Healthcare's vision is Setting the Standard for
Excellence in Personalized Healthcare. Established in 1962,
Scottsdale Healthcare is the not-for-profit parent organization of
the Scottsdale Healthcare Shea and Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn
hospitals, Virginia G. Piper Cancer Center, Scottsdale Healthcare
Thompson Peak medical campus, Scottsdale Clinical Research
Institute, Scottsdale Healthcare Home Health Services and Scottsdale
Healthcare Community Health Services. Based in Scottsdale, Arizona,
Scottsdale Healthcare is governed by a volunteer board of directors
composed of leading local citizens.

About TGen
The mission of the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen)
is to make and translate genomic discoveries into advances in human
health. 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 is focused on personalized medicine and plans
to accomplish its goals through robust and disease-focused research
programs and its state-of-the-art bioinformatics and computational
biology facilities.

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