Bio Screening Industry News

Singapore R&D center to develop life science instruments targeted for US$650 million market

SINGAPORE, Feb. 1, 2007 - Fluidigm accelerates its R&D and manufacturing activities in Singapore, through the launch of its new Biomedical Product Development Center. This center, a core part of Fluidigm’s worldwide R&D organization, will be responsible for the full development of a Fluidigm BioMark II series of instrumentation.

The BioMark II system will allow Fluidigm to expand its business into the biomarker validation market, which is a rapidly growing market in the life science industry. This strategic development makes Fluidigm the first biotechnology company to expand its portfolio in Singapore, with leading-edge biochip and system R&D capabilities. It also underlines the company’s confidence in Singapor’s technical competence.

The Biomedical Product Development Center
The center’s initial research activities will support the development of instrumentation for the BioMark II system. The Singapore research group will undertake 100% of the R&D on a new biochip fluorescence reader and biochip loader, specially designed for high-throughput genotyping and protein expression applications. Fluidigm Singapore will also manufacture the BioMark II system. These new instrumentation will allow the company to tap into the genotyping and protein expression markets, valued at US$ 350 million and US$300 million respectively. This will help Fluidigm expand further into the research tool market, broaden the reach of its current products and enable the development of future products.

Operations for the Biomedical Product Development Center will commence immediately, with its current R&D team of 5. Additional staff will be recruited from Singapore’s large pool of manufacturing and research expertise. The R&D center will also be supported by the local precision engineering companies, academic, biomedical and pharmaceuticals research institutions.

Headquartered in the U.S., Fluidigm Corporation set up Fluidigm Singapore as its first offshore R&D and manufacturing operation. This introduced the breakthrough nanofluidic biochips, known as Integrated Fluidic Circuits (IFC) into the local biomedical sciences scene. Analogous to microprocessors in the semiconductor industry, these IFC biochips can replace roomfuls of lab equipment in the life sciences industry. The BioMark II system leverages on IFC’s innovative technology to achieve dramatic improvements for genetic and protein analysis, over existing technologies. Fluidigm’s cutting-edge solutions have contributed to the research success of many internationally, well-regarded academics and pharmaceutical companies. See Annex 1 for more information on IFCs and the BioMark system. See BioMark News Highlight sheet for success stories of how Fluidigm?s solutions have helped its clients.

“We are very pleased with Fluidigm Singapore’s progress over the last year. The expansion of our portfolio through the Biomedical Product Development Centre is evidence of Singapore’s conducive environment for cutting-edge biomedical R&D activities. We look forward to further strengthening Fluidigm Singapore’s development capabilities, through new technology transfer and applications development,” said Mr. Gajus Worthington, President and CEO of Fluidigm Corporation. See Annex 2 for Mr. Worthington’s biodata.

“The expansion of Fluidigm’s Singapore operations to include product development and the manufacture of a new instrument systems underscores the important role that Singapore plays in Fluidigm?s vision for growth,” said

Mr Philip Yeo, Chairman, Agency Science Technology & Research (A*STAR) and Chairman, Bio*One Capital. Mr Yeo was the guest-of-honor at the official launch of the Biomedical Product Development Center. “The new Fluidigm Biomedical Product Development Center will allow the company to leverage on the biochip capabilities and the supporting precision engineering infrastructure in Singapore, to be a key player in the rapidly growing market in scientific instruments. Bio*One Capital through its investments, has played a pivotal role in supporting the growth of Fluidigm since 2001, leading to the expansion of its operations here. Together with the EDB’s Biomedical Sciences Group, Fluidigm will be assured of continuing support for the exciting new project in Singapore.”

Rapid progress in Singapore
The launch of the Biomedical Product Development Centre has cemented Fluidigm Singapore as a key player in the local biomedical sciences industry. Fluidigm Singapore has made tremendous progress since its October 2005 opening. In less than a year, the company established full process capability for its first product - the TOPAZ Screening Chip. This is a specialized IFC biochip for protein crystallization, a research process used to study a protein’s structure and, in doing so, assess its role in disease and suitability as a target for drug therapies. The TOPAZ chip has major pharmaceutical companies amongst its list of key customers. Following this success, the company took on expanded R&D responsibilities to work on the next generation of biochips. In August 2006, the Singapore team successfully produced the Dynamic Array chip, one of the most complex and advanced biochips on the market. In December 2006, a new product pilot line was transferred from the U.S., to support the development of the next generation of IFC chips in Singapore. These new generation IFC chips will have much higher scale of integration, and provide exponential increases in throughput for the customers.

Fluidigm Singapore has successfully collaborated with many local precision engineering companies to develop enabling technologies for biochip fabrication. These include laser technology applications, high precision machining and molding technologies. These novel solutions will translate into millions of dollars in cost savings for the company.

About Fluidigm
Fluidigm Corporation develops and distributes systems based on the unique properties of integrated fluidic circuits (IFCs) to precisely control fluids on a nano-volume scale. The company’s vision is to create and to lead a new industry in which IFCs bring unparalleled efficiencies to the life science and allied fields. Based in South San Francisco, California, the Company is privately held and backed by premier investors: Versant Ventures, Euclid SR Partners, InterWest Partners, Lehman Brothers Healthcare Fund, Bruce Burrows, Singapore Bio*One Capital, Lilly BioVentures, the Invus Group, GE Equity, SightLine Partners, AllianceBernstein, Wasatch Advisors and its affiliate, Cross Creek Capital and Alloy Ventures.

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Chan Yiu Lin
Greener Grass Communications
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