GOVERNMENT

OpenEye Scientific Software, Inc., the developer of innovative molecular modeling and cheminformatics solutions for drug discovery research, announced today it will celebrate the 10th anniversary of its incorporation at the American Chemical Society 233rd Spring Exposition that opens in Chicago on Sunday. Dr. Anthony Nicholls founded OpenEye Scientific Software in Santa Fe on the 24th of February, 1997. As OpenEye's founder and initial employee, he capitalized on his in-depth knowledge of Poisson-Boltzmann electrostatics to produce ZAP, the Company's first product. Ten years later, OpenEye has a staff of 18, and nearly 20 software applications and toolkits, covering the areas of ligand- and structure-based design, as well as chemical informatics. Most remarkably, the company is still 100% employee-owned; it has grown without venture capital investment, government grants or bank loans, but solely on the revenue generated by its successful products. "I wanted OpenEye to be run differently than most other chemistry software companies" said Dr. Nicholls, President and CEO. "We are very focused on the science, and we have strong opinions about the right way to do computational drug design. We try to contribute to the research community, and like to treat our customers as colleagues. While it is important we pay the bills, money is secondary to impact." At the Chicago ACS, OpenEye scientists will present no less than eleven talks and posters. "This is our largest contribution to date and reflects the value we place on ACS meetings as a scientific venue for the exchange of ideas and opinions. Chicago, 2001, was our first ACS meeting and it is great to be going back to celebrate", concluded Dr. Nicholls.