Released on: July 8, 2008, 6:41 am

Press Release Author: The Scott Partnership

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Press Release Summary: PHILADELPHIA - (July 8, 2008) - Thermo Fisher Scientific, the
world leader in serving science, today announced that it is the winner of a
Microsoft Corporation 2008 Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences Innovation Award in the
Discovery and Product Innovation category. The award honors best-in-class companies
that have made the most innovative use of Microsoft-based solutions for
breakthroughs in business processes and practices throughout the pharmaceutical and
life sciences industry. Together with AstraZeneca, Thermo Fisher Scientific is
pleased to be acknowledged for their contributions to advancing science.


Press Release Body: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Informatics
Media Contact Information:
Name: Kath Darlington
Phone: +44 (0) 1477 539539
E-mail: thermofisher@scottpr.com
Website: www.scottpr.com

Media Contact Information:
Name: Susan Najjar
Phone: +1 781 287 4869
E-mail:susan.najjar@thermofisher.com
Website: www.thermo.com/informatics

Thermo Fisher Scientific Named a Microsoft Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences
Innovation Award Winner for Informatics Solutions

Thermo Scientific Nautilus LIMS Recognized for Driving Better Business Decisions at
AstraZeneca

PHILADELPHIA - (July 8, 2008) - Thermo Fisher Scientific, the world leader in
serving science, today announced that it is the winner of a Microsoft Corporation
2008 Pharmaceutical and Life Sciences Innovation Award in the Discovery and Product
Innovation category. The award honors best-in-class companies that have made the
most innovative use of Microsoft-based solutions for breakthroughs in business
processes and practices throughout the pharmaceutical and life sciences industry.
Together with AstraZeneca, Thermo Fisher Scientific is pleased to be acknowledged
for their contributions to advancing science.

The award, announced at the Drug Information Association\'s (DIA\'s) 44th annual
conference, was presented to Thermo Fisher Scientific and AstraZeneca, and it
recognizes the companies as examples of true innovators in their approaches to
solving some of the major challenges facing the global life sciences industry.
\"Whether it is the challenging regulatory environment, dispersed silos of
information or changing dynamics within an organization, life sciences companies
today face enormous challenges,\" said Michael Naimoli, U.S. life sciences industry
solutions director, Microsoft Corp. \"Thermo Fisher Scientific and AstraZeneca are
recognized at this year\'s award ceremony for exemplifying how technology built on
the Microsoft software platform can help address these issues by empowering people
to better connect, collaborate and make informed decisions to drive business
success.\"

Building on the Microsoft software platform, the Thermo Fisher and AstraZeneca
application demonstrated a compelling solution that streamlined the early phase
discovery process and greatly accelerated decision-making in discovery and drug
delivery. AstraZeneca is a major international healthcare business engaged in
research, development, manufacturing and marketing of prescription pharmaceuticals
and supplier for healthcare services. With more than 13,000 R&D employees spanning
eight countries, centralizing biochemical screening operations across its global R&D
centers creates a host of challenges. Typically managed at the local laboratory
level, the effort to harmonize disparate processes to record, track and manage a
growing number of requests for compound screening was identified as a major
hindrance to productivity.

AstraZeneca implemented Thermo Scientific Nautilus LIMS (Laboratory Information
Management System) to centralize biochemical screening, map laboratory workflows,
and dramatically drive efficiency through superior data management. Built on
Microsoft\'s Visual Studio .NET, Thermo Scientific Nautilus LIMS helped coordinate
global requests, automate workflows and standardize biochemical screening. Within
six months of the deployment, AstraZeneca realized a 180 percent efficiency gain
across its laboratories from the centralized screening process. \"Thermo Scientific
Nautilus LIMS allows us to turn our data around faster and test across multiple
targets, so chemists can get an answer more quickly. This \'Centralized Screening\'
approach helps to prevent the progression of inappropriate chemical series, while
identifying unexpected leads, ultimately accelerating the research on promising
compounds. This process has the additional cost-saving benefit of chemistry and
bioscience resources that would have been expended on a failed result,\" says Roger
Clark, senior scientist in the Cancer & Infection department at AstraZeneca. \"The
Biochemical Screening team at AstraZeneca has truly \'raised the bar\' within early
drug discovery, and Nautilus, along with the Microsoft .Net platform, is fundamental
to this activity.\"

Thermo Fisher\'s vision for enabling knowledge-driven discoveries utilizes the
company\'s market-leading technology to help life sciences organizations integrate
their systems, dramatically enhance collaboration and increase information sharing
and learning. Ultimately, this results in the ability to deliver high-quality
products and services across the world. \"Thermo Scientific Nautilus LIMS is a
Microsoft-based, flexible and easy-to-use solution that helps organizations drive
efficiencies, connect better with customers and make more informed decisions
faster,\" says Dave Champagne, vice president and general manager, Informatics at
Thermo Fisher Scientific.
\"We are very pleased to have received this honor and recognition with AstraZeneca in
the pursuit of excellence in discovery and product innovation from Microsoft.\"

For more information about Thermo Scientific informatics solutions, please call +1
866-463-6522, e-mail marketing.informatics@thermofisher.com or visit
www.thermo.com/informatics.

Award participants consisted of worldwide life sciences corporations in
biotechnology, diagnostics, medical equipment and devices, pharmaceuticals, animal
health, nutritional products and consumer health products. Winners were selected by
an esteemed panel of industry experts and will be highlighted on the Microsoft Web
site at http://www.microsoft.com/lifesciences.

About Thermo Fisher Scientific

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (NYSE: TMO) is the world leader in serving science,
enabling our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer. With annual
revenues of $10 billion, we have more than 30,000 employees and serve over 350,000
customers within pharmaceutical and biotech companies, hospitals and clinical
diagnostic labs, universities, research institutions and government agencies, as
well as environmental and industrial process control settings. Serving customers
through two premier brands, Thermo Scientific and Fisher Scientific, we help solve
analytical challenges from routine testing to complex research and discovery. Thermo
Scientific offers customers a complete range of high-end analytical instruments as
well as laboratory equipment, software, services, consumables and reagents to enable
integrated laboratory workflow solutions. Fisher Scientific provides a complete
portfolio of laboratory equipment, chemicals, supplies and services used in
healthcare, scientific research, safety and education. Together, we offer the most
convenient purchasing options to customers and continuously advance our technologies
to accelerate the pace of scientific discovery, enhance value for customers and fuel
growth for shareholders and employees alike. Visit www.thermofisher.com.



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Contact Details: Media Contact Information:
Name: Kath Darlington
Phone: +44 (0) 1477 539539
E-mail: thermofisher@scottpr.com
Website: www.scottpr.com

Media Contact Information:
Name: Susan Najjar
Phone: +1 781 287 4869
E-mail:susan.najjar@thermofisher.com
Website: www.thermo.com/informatics