Tuesday December 4, 2001

COMPANY PRESS RELEASE

Transgenomic, Inc. Supplies Nucleic Acid Products To Leading Antisense Therapy Developer

Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Initiates Phosphoramidite Purchases

OMAHA, Neb., Dec. 4 -- Transgenomic, Inc. (Nasdaq: TBIO) announced today that antisense drug discovery and development company, Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., has placed multiple large orders for the synthetic nucleic acid material known as phosphoramidites. Transgenomic has agreed to supply phosphoramidites for Isis and any of its manufacturing partners. Phosphoramidites are fundamental building blocks in the production of antisense therapies. These products will be manufactured by Transgenomic.

Isis is the leading antisense company, with one antisense drug on the market and 13 products in its development pipeline. Two investigational products are in Phase III human clinical trials and seven are in Phase II. These drugs are targeted toward a wide range of diseases, including cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, diabetes and Crohn's disease. In addition, Isis' GeneTrove division uses antisense to assist pharmaceutical industry partners in validating and prioritizing gene targets through customized collaborations and access to an extensive gene function database.

"This relationship is an indication of our ability to deliver both quality products and meet the growing demand for materials used in antisense technology," said Collin D'Silva, Transgenomic's chief executive and chairman. "This arrangement is reflective of our strategy to supply key pharmaceutical companies with materials and tools for the drug discovery process and manufacturing of therapeutic solutions. We believe that Isis' leadership in antisense technology, along with its numerous partners, positions Transgenomic to participate in the growth of this novel therapeutic intervention strategy."

Antisense inhibitors work at the genetic level by binding to messenger RNA to interrupt the process by which disease-causing proteins are produced. Antisense inhibitors can be used as functional genomics tools or as drugs. The effects of antisense gene inhibition help identify what a gene does in a biological process (gene functionalization) and help determine whether a specific gene is a good target for drug discovery (target validation). The same antisense inhibitor that is used as a functional genomics tool can be scaled up and studied as a drug candidate in animals and ultimately tested in human clinical trials, making antisense drug discovery more rapid and efficient. Antisense drugs can be designed to treat a wide range of diseases. Due to their gene selectivity, they have the potential to be highly effective and less toxic than traditional small molecule drugs, which only act on the disease-causing protein after it has been produced.

About Transgenomic

Transgenomic provides versatile and innovative research tools and related consumable products to the life sciences industry for the synthesis, separation, analysis and purification of nucleic acids and a wide variety of nucleic acid-based specialty chemicals.

Transgenomic's specialty chemicals consist of nucleic acid building blocks ("phosphoramidites"), fluorescent markers, dyes and associated reagents, as well as oligomimetics (chemically-modified DNA and RNA molecules) which exhibit proven enhancements in stability, bioavailability, specificity and efficacy, making them excellent candidates for use in clinical applications such as genetic diagnostics and therapeutics. Oligomimetics also exhibit higher affinity and specificity than regular DNA making them excellent candidates for DNA diagnostics and chip technology.

Transgenomic's WAVE® System is a versatile system that can be used for genetic variation detection, size-based double-strand DNA separation and analysis, single-strand DNA separation and analysis and DNA purification. Because of this versatility, the WAVE System can essentially replace the use of traditional gel electrophoresis in the molecular biology laboratory. This patented technology uses a process known as high-performance liquid chromatography to separate DNA material so that genetic variation may be identified and analyzed. Proprietary software controls the process and produces the results of the operation in an easy-to-read chart format. Once the DNA sample is loaded into the instrument and necessary data is entered into the software, the process requires virtually no additional input from the researcher.

In four years, Transgenomic has installed WAVE Systems in 25 countries, evidence that it is a global leader in solutions for nucleic acid analysis.

For more information about the innovative genomics research tools developed and marketed by Transgenomic, please visit the company's Web site at www.transgenomic.com.

Cautionary Statement

This press release may contain forward-looking statements that reflect management's current views and estimates of future economic circumstances, industry conditions, company performance and financial results, including the continued successful development of antisense technology, the continuation of orders for product by Isis, and the ability of the company to produce phosphoramidites in the quantities required. Such statements are subject to certain factors, risks and uncertainties described from time to time in Transgenomic, Inc.'s reports to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Any change in such factors, risks and uncertainties may cause the actual results, events and performance to differ materially from those referred to in such statements. Accordingly, the company claims the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 with respect to all statements contained in this press release.

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