Bio Screening Industry News

High Throughput In Vitro Multiple Readout Screens Expected to Reduce Development Time of New Therapies

Serologicals Corporation (NASDAQ: SERO) today announced that Upstate Group, its wholly owned subsidiary, has initiated a collaboration with CXR Biosciences to establish a battery of proprietary in vitro screens to select, at an early stage, candidate molecules for further development. The underlying principle of the platform is to enable the identification of compounds with the most optimal safety or bioavailability profiles as early in the drug development process as possible. The result of this will be to advance molecules most likely to succeed into clinical development, thereby reducing the overall time-to-market of life-enhancing therapies. The screening platform will utilize predictive toxicity and drug metabolism screens to profile compounds in various cell-based and in vitro assays.

Dr Tom Shepherd, Chief Executive of CXR commented “As a significant part of the tremendous costs involved in drug development are expended on drugs that fail during the development process, not only should this platform improve the quality of candidate drugs entering the clinic, but it should also improve the cost effectiveness of the overall process. Perhaps most importantly, this platform is intended to reduce the time-to-market of critical new life-enhancing therapies.”

Upstate is the leading research discovery provider of cell signalling products and services to the life science market. Its customers are biomedical researchers at drug discovery companies and academic institutions in the key disciplines of oncology, immunology, proteomics, cardiology and neurology. Known for its enabling, innovative solutions to help understand the biology of kinases, chromatin, G-proteins and cytokines, Upstate’s advanced cell biology tools - drug screening services, enzymes, state-specific antibodies, siRNA kits, multiplex assays - are used by thousands of customers worldwide to accelerate the discovery and development of new therapeutic compounds.

David A. Dodd, President and Chief Executive Officer, Serologicals commented “The cost of successfully developing and commercialising new pharmaceuticals is now approximately $1 billion, requiring more than a decade of development and regulatory review. The result of our collaboration with CXR Biosciences is intended to contribute to a significant reduction in both the cost and development time of new pharmaceutical compounds, enabling biopharmaceutical companies to focus more quickly on those development projects with the highest likelihood of success. This collaboration, combined with our existing leadership in providing drug discovery profiling solutions, will further expand our growth in this strategic area of our business.”

Upstate is a leading research discovery provider of the highest quality cell signaling products and services to the life science market. Its customers are biomedical researchers at drug discovery companies and academic institutions in the key disciplines of oncology, immunology, proteomics, cardiology and neurology. Known for its enabling, innovative solutions to help understand the biology of kinases, chromatin, g-proteins and cytokines, Upstate’s advanced cell biology tools - drug screening services, enzymes, state specific antibodies, siRNA kits, multiplex assays are used by thousands of customers worldwide, every day to accelerate improving human health. Upstate, a Serologicals company, is headquartered in Charlottesville, VA, with locations in Lake Placid, NY, and Dundee, Scotland.

For more information, please visit our website www.upstate.com.

CXR Biosciences is a drug development solutions company which is applying new models for pre-clinical drug development, and the assessment of risks to humans of chemicals, that are aimed at introducing new dimensions in the capacity to make predictions about safety in humans in a more rapid and informed manner. The Company was co-founded by Professor Roland Wolf FRSE, FRB Med Sci, FSA and Dr. Cliff Elcombe. Professor Wolf is Director of the University of Dundee Biomedical Research Centre, and Honorary Director of the Cancer Research UK Molecular Pharmacology Unit. He has published over 350 papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals and has recently received the Gerhard Zbinden Award for his extensive contributions to the area of drug and chemical safety. Dr. Cliff Elcombe is a Senior Lecturer in the Biomedical Research Centre, University of Dundee Medical School. He has authored or co-authored over 100 peer-reviewed publications and previously had a highly successful career in investigative toxicology at Zeneca. CXR applies a combination of extensive experience in conventional models for the evaluation of drug metabolism and toxicity. CXR’s customers and collaborators include 8 major pharmaceutical companies and over 20 small drug discovery companies.

CXR Biosciences Ltd is located in Dundee, Scotland.

For more information, please visit our website: www.cxrbiosciences.com.

Serologicals Corporation (NASDAQ: SERO), headquartered in Atlanta, GA, is a global leader in developing and commercializing consumable biological products, enabling technologies and services in support of biological research, drug discovery, and the bioprocessing of life-enhancing products. Our customers include researchers at major life science companies and leading research institutions involved in key disciplines, such as neurology, oncology, hematology, immunology, cardiology, proteomics, infectious diseases, cell signaling and stem cell research. In addition, Serologicals is the world’s leading provider of monoclonal antibodies for the blood typing industry.

Serologicals employs a total of more than 1,000 people worldwide in three Serologicals’ companies: Chemicon International, headquartered in Temecula, CA, Upstate Group, LLC, headquartered in Charlottesville, VA and Celliance Corporation, headquartered in Atlanta, GA.

For more information, please visit our website: www.serologicals.com.

This release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words or phrases such as “should result,” “are expected to,” “we anticipate,” “we estimate,” “we project” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, our ability to continue to introduce new products at a rapid pace and the acceptance of such products by our customers.

Serologicals is a registered trademark of Serologicals Royalty Company.

CONTACT:

Serologicals Corporation Public Affairs Bill Davis, 678/728-2018