MDL(R) Isentris(R) 2.0 Offers Significant R&D Advantage

Elsevier MDL has unveiled a significant upgrade to the MDL(R)
Isentris(R) system for integrating information and software
applications into scientists' workflows. MDL Isentris 2.0 features
hundreds of new capabilities and demonstrable and meaningful
performance improvements that give pharmaceutical, biotech and life
sciences organizations unequaled ability to improve R&D productivity
through better data management, lowered cost of ownership, faster
workflow processes and easier information access and reporting.

"MDL Isentris 2.0 offers features, performance and potential well
beyond MDL(R) ISIS, the industry standard for the past 15 years," said
Lars Barfod, President and CEO of Elsevier MDL.

"Unique new features such as a visual reaction planner offer
scientists better day-to-day workflow support. Dramatic performance
improvements strengthen the value of Isentris from small to global
multi-site R&D labs. And standardized development tools make it easy
for organizations to customize systems to meet their needs. More and
more of our major customers are migrating to Isentris to capitalize on
these advantages."

MDL software is used at virtually every major pharmaceutical
company, and at biotechnology, chemical and research institutions
around the world. Following recent evaluations of Isentris 2.0,
several more leading companies have purchased the new-generation
system, bringing the number of top 30 Elsevier MDL customers that have
adopted Isentris to 15.

Dr. Dominique Swinnen, a Senior Scientist at Serono who viewed a
prerelease, commented: "Isentris 2.0 looks very promising. I was
really impressed with how user-friendly it was and especially with the
reaction planning functionality. The ability to explore precursor
reaction steps and quickly build reaction plans looks very useful and
could save us a lot of time during our synthesis preparation."

The Isentris 2.0 release features proven performance on databases
of over 5 million reactions and 20 million structures. Reaction fast
search gives substantial performance improvements over previous
cartridge-based search engines, up to 100 times faster in some cases.
Isentris now offers up to 15 times faster browsing over wide area
networks than ISIS, and allows scientists to load scientific data into
Microsoft Excel as much as six times faster, and copy, paste and sort
the data twice as fast. Isentris can support hundreds of simultaneous
users on a single mid-sized server.

Isentris lets scientists search multiple databases with a single
query, save and reuse sophisticated searches and create personal data
views without IT assistance. Scientists can find information faster,
explore structure-activity relationships, collaborate, pursue
hypotheses and gain insight for informed, intelligent decisions.

For organizations, Isentris is designed to handle the massive
loads, diverse data types and pressure of global R&D networks, while
offering higher ROI and lower IT costs. Pre-built development
components in Isentris enable IT groups to rapidly create custom
scientific applications using Microsoft .NET technology. IT groups can
reduce support workloads by providing scientists with self-service
data access and consistent, easy to learn applications. And integrated
access to internal proprietary and commercial data sources offers
significant workflow and efficiencies.

For more information visit www.mdl.com. A whitepaper is available
on request.

About Elsevier MDL

Elsevier MDL provides informatics, database and workflow solutions
that accelerate successful scientific R&D by improving the speed and
quality of scientists' decision making. Researchers around the world
depend on Elsevier MDL for innovative and reliable discovery
informatics software solutions and services augmented by 400 Elsevier
chemistry and life sciences journals and related products. For more
information, visit www.mdl.com. Elsevier is a world-leading publisher
of scientific, technical and medical information products and
services. For more information, visit www.elsevier.com. Elsevier is
part of Reed Elsevier Group plc, a world-leading publisher and
information provider. Reed Elsevier's ticker symbols are REN (Euronext
Amsterdam), REL (London Stock Exchange), RUK and ENL (New York Stock
Exchange). For more information, visit www.reedelsevier.com.

MDL and Isentris are registered trademarks of MDL Information
Systems, Inc. ('Elsevier MDL') in the United States. All rights
reserved. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the
property of their respective owners.