Caliper and Wako Pure Chemical Industries Form Broad Distribution Agreement For LabChip(R) HTS Systems in Japan; Strategic Alliance Provides Caliper With Access to Japanese Pharmaceutical Market.

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. -- Caliper Technologies Corp. and Wako Pure Chemical Industries, Ltd. of Japan have formed an exclusive agreement providing Wako with rights to distribute the Caliper 250 High Throughput Screening (HTS) system and chips in Japan. Caliper Technologies develops and manufactures LabChip(R) systems and sells them in the U.S. through the company's own direct domestic sales organization. The agreement with Wako represents Caliper's first HTS product marketing endeavor in Japan.

The Caliper 250 HTS system miniaturizes, integrates and automates high-throughput screening, the process of testing each component of large chemical compound libraries to discover and characterize compounds with specific biochemical activities. Pharmaceutical companies use high-throughput screening assays to uncover compounds of potential therapeutic value. A single high-throughput-screening project might require critical laboratory analysis of hundreds of thousands of individual chemical compounds. By performing high-throughput screening on a small chip as part of an automated workflow, the Caliper 250 HTS system speeds up the assay development process, improves data quality and reproducibility, and reduces reagent and sample usage.

Through well-established relationships with leading Japanese pharmaceutical companies, Wako offers market access, leadership and reach to promote Caliper's HTS systems in Japan. Wako is a major supplier of specialty chemicals, clinical diagnostics, and biological products for Japanese biotech research. For more information, please visit Wako's web site at http://wako-chem.co.jp/ .

Caliper Technologies Corp. is a leader in lab-on-a-chip technology. Caliper designs, manufactures, and commercializes LabChip devices and systems that enable experiments that ordinarily require laboratories full of equipment and people to be conducted on a chip small enough to fit in the palm of a child's hand. The chip contains a network of microscopic channels through which fluids are moved in order to perform the experiment. LabChip systems are designed to streamline and accelerate laboratory experimentation and have potential applicability in a broad range of industries including pharmaceuticals, agriculture, chemicals and diagnostics. Caliper has established multiple strategic and commercial alliances and has built a leading intellectual property estate in microfluidic technology. For more information, please visit Caliper's web site at http://www.calipertech.com/.

Note: The statements in this news release regarding the benefits, potential utility, and commercial value of the Caliper 250 High Throughput Screening system are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These risks include the risk that potential customers will not readily adopt the new system or that it will not provide the anticipated benefits due to technical or other unforeseen difficulties. Other risks related to Caliper are detailed in Caliper's Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on March 16, 2001, and in Caliper's quarterly reports on Form 10-Q as filed with the SEC.