Bio Screening Industry News

WA researchers have taken the first step towards developing new anti-cancer medications that could activate a gene shown to block the growth of cancerous cells.

Led by Western Australian Institute for Medical Research (WAIMR) Director Professor Peter Klinken, the scientists have screened a large collection of drug-like molecules and recently identified a number of compounds which can increase levels of the Hls5 gene.

“This discovery is very encouraging and a great step forward in our quest to create new cancer treatments,” said Professor Klinken.

“Because of the role Hls5 plays in keeping cell growth at a normal rate, we expect that these compounds will greatly slow down the growth of cancer cells.”

The Hls5 tumour suppressor gene was reported by Professor Klinken’s team in 2004.

The group’s research has revealed that people who don’t have the gene - or those who have a mutated or inactive form of the gene - are more likely to develop certain types of cancer.

In conjunction with WA-based biotechnology company BioPharmica, the WAIMR team has spent more than a year screening 70,000 compounds which increase Hls5 levels.

“Our preliminary data reveals that several of these compounds do indeed markedly slow down the growth of human cancer cells,” said Professor Klinken.

“Importantly, we also know through computer modeling that nearly all of these compounds have drug-like qualities.”

“From here, we take the research to the next phase of laboratory testing with the ultimate hope of investigating if one of these molecules can be used to create a fresh treatment that can slow growth of cancer cells in patients.”

Healthcare company AstraZeneca Plc (AZN: News, Chart, Quote ,AZN.L: News, Chart, Quote ) said Friday that it signed an innovative new partnership with the National Cancer Centre Singapore, or NCCS, and the National University Hospital, or NUH, for development of anti-cancer compounds. The collaboration is spelt out in a Memorandum of Understanding, or MOU.

As per the MOU, AstraZeneca and the Singapore institutions will enter into a collaborative agreement that spans both clinical and pre-clinical development activities.

AstraZeneca noted that the partnership also includes a Training Programme placement with the Manchester Cancer Research Centre, with whom AstraZeneca has a formal research alliance. Singapore Economic Development Board partly supports the training programme. The purpose of the training programme is to train a pool of clinical research professionals for both private-sector and public-sector research labs.

According to AstraZeneca, the partnership aims to further build its drug development capabilities in Asia and ultimately accelerate access to new medicines of potential benefit to patients with inoperable Hepatocellular Carcinoma, or HCC. HCC is a cancer that is particularly prevalent in Asia and accounts for approximately one million deaths annually worldwide.

Under the terms of the clinical development collaboration, NCCS and NUH can access AstraZeneca compounds that have already undergone initial clinical testing in the West.

The institutions have already identified AstraZeneca’s two compounds for clinical screening in inoperable HCC during 2008 and 2009. The company stated that more compounds would be made available at a rate of one per year, for the duration of the partnership, which exists until 2012.

For both clinical and pre-clinical activities, AstraZeneca maintained the alternative to presume further development and marketing of all drugs made available as part of the partnership deal.

AZN closed Thursday’s regular trade at $49.04, up $0.34, on a volume of 1.2 million shares.

Aarhus Denmark — July 23, 2008 — CLC bio has just released a scientific white paper which confirms, that, in benchmarking tests, CLC bio’s new algorithm for assembly of Next Generation Sequencing data is the fastest one available. Not only is CLC bio’s algorithm considerably faster, but it also provides a better quality of the results, compared to other algorithms benchmarked in the white paper.

Assistant Professor at Rutgers University, Dr. Todd P. Michael, states, ‘The speed of CLC bio’s new algorithm for reference assembly of Next Generation Sequencing data raises the bar to a level currently unmatched by any competitor. When CLC bio continues this impressive rate of development, and eventually also handles SOLiD’s Color Space analysis in the same convincing manner, this could easily become a de facto tool for scientists working with Next Generation Sequencing analysis.’

Instead of using around 3 to 4 hours assembling 8.5 million reads against a whole human genome, CLC bio’s assembly algorithm accomplished the same calculation in little more than half an hour, which means at least 5 times faster than the closest competitor.

For the assembly of large data sets, the increase in speed is even bigger: When assembling 86 million reads against the whole human genome, CLC bio’s assembly algorithm is more than 14 times faster, meaning an assembly normally taking almost 40 hours can be done in less than two! At the same time, CLC bio’s algorithm provides a better quality of the results delivered with more than 85% accuracy, compared to around 83% for the other algorithms in the white paper.

Another highly interesting aspect of this improved assembly algorithm is the modest requirements of physical memory - at no point during the benchmark tests did CLC bio’s algorithm require more than 8GB RAM.

The benchmark tests were conducted by comparing both 8.5 million reads and 86 million reads against a whole human genome, kindly supplied by the Beijing Genomics Institute. The data set for the benchmark tests was sequenced on Illumina’s Solexa platform and each read had a length of 35 nucleotides.

Once the assembly algorithm will be released in August, it will be available both in a command-line version on CLC bio’s Bioinformatics Cell platform and through CLC Genomics Workbench, which offers an intuitive graphical interface for analyzing and visualizing Next Generation Sequencing data. CLC bio’s white paper is free to download for everyone at www.clccell.com/ngs

About CLC bio

CLC bio is the world’s leading full-service bioinformatics solution provider, solely focusing on the development of bioinformatics: software, hardware, data analysis, and custom-designed bioinformatics algorithms.

CLC bio’s mission is to be among the most innovative bioinformatics companies in the 21st century. This is realized through:

• Development of bioinformatics software and hardware based on the latest scientific findings
• User-friendly, integrated and intuitive cross-platform software solutions
• Continuous focus on customer needs and superior customer service
• Frequent product updates including the latest IT technologies and bioinformatics algorithms
• A flexible IT architecture, enabling customers to buy or develop individualized solutions at a reasonable price

First Stand-Alone Partnering Conference Held in the USA to Attract the Biggest Names in Global Biotech for Two Days of Intense Networking

Carlsbad, CA. and Atlanta, GA., July 24, 2008: With only two months until the start of BioPharm America(TM) in Atlanta, September 9-10, 2008, EBD Group today announced the conference’s program highlights covering a wide selection of important industry topics.

The eagerly anticipated BioPharm America partnering conference is expected to bring out many well known and respected names in the biotech industry and to be the most international stand-alone partnering event held on US soil.

Program highlights include:

–    How is the Evolving Bio/Pharma Drug Development Landscape Affecting Transactions? As partnering continues to be the “it factor” in the bio / pharma industry, the key questions are: Can the buyers and sellers reconcile their very different project management cultures and deal requirements? How will these differences manifest themselves in the types of transactions that will be seen over the next 3-5 years? How will the recent fondness for expensive platform deals reveal the genius, folly or desperation of big pharma’s new R&D strategies?

Dr. Bruce Robertson, Managing Director, H.I.G. Ventures will moderate a panel featuring  Rob Wills, Vice President Alliance Management, Johnson & Johnson; Dr. Christy Shaffer, President and CEO, Inspire Pharmaceuticals; and Sun Park, Vice President, Business Development, MedImmune, to examine these critical strategic issues and also discuss the role of investors, venture capital and private equity, in determining the partnering strategy of development-stage companies.

–    The New Oncology Partnerships – Paradigms for Novel Therapies or More of the Same? Oncology has exhibited the most venture investment and deal flow over the last two years. With large mergers and acquisitions, such as Astellas’ acquisition of Agensys and BMS’s acquisition of Adnexus, the oncology company landscape has changed dramatically. This is giving rise to important new questions: How will these new big players organize their oncology portfolio? How will their alliance strategies change?

On the other side of the spectrum there is an abundance of early stage companies exploring new technologies and pathways. From among these emerging players, which technologies are the most promising, and which companies have the potential to be the strongest partners?

These important questions will be tackled in this not to be missed session that features Dr. Nils Debus, Senior Director, Global Business Development and Licensing, Bayer Schering; Dr. Aya Jakobovits, Executive Vice President, Head, Research and Development, Agensys - Astellas Group; and Dr. William P. Peters, Chairman and CEO, Adherex Technologies.  

–    Novel Approaches to Treating Metabolic Diseases. Metabolic diseases such as obesity and Type 2 diabetes are growing and significant health problems for our society. These diseases represent large opportunities for biotech and pharma companies to develop and market novel drug therapies that address these debilitating disorders.

A leading practicing physician will run a panel featuring Dr. Thomas Landh, Director, Strategy and Sourcing, Novo Nordisk; and Dr. Eric Tomlinson, President and CEO, Altea Therapeutics to generate important insights on the challenges and unmet medical needs of this growing patient population and provide an update from industry experts on novel therapeutic agents and drug delivery technologies designed to improve patient outcomes.

–    Fighting Temptation: Why Bigger and Richer is not Always Better in Drug Development Partnerships. While many big pharma companies are in the midst of deconstructing and overhauling their drug discovery and development processes, many mid-tier pharma continue to demonstrate why they are more adept at managing pipelines and getting the most out of partnerships.

This session will examine how these mid-tier companies can continue to maintain their edge in the face of big pharma’s increasingly generous deal terms that promise new partners and newly acquired companies that they can retain their autonomy.

–    Exploring the Link Between Portfolio Strategy and Business Development.

Moderated by Ben Bonifant, Vice President, Business Development, Campbell Alliance, joined by Dr. Ellen Strahlman, Vice President, Licensing, Worldwide Business Development, Pfizer; Dr. Manuel Litchman, Vice President and Head, Oncology Business Development and Licensing, Novartis; and Steven Xanthoudakis, Director, Licensing and External Research, Merck Frosst Canada, this session will explore the link between portfolio strategy and business development.

It is reasonable to expect that a company’s business development activities should directly relate to—and support—its overall portfolio strategy. However, companies vary in the degree to which business development actively contributes to the portfolio strategy development, and often that strategy focuses on the commercial potential of the internal pipeline. Once pipeline gaps are identified, efforts shift to involve business development to help fill those gaps. If the two functions remain separated, business development can often find it difficult to align newly acquired assets with the investment priorities of the development pipeline. A successful approach incorporates considerations of business development opportunities simultaneously with asset prioritization decisions of the internal pipeline. In practice, aligning strategy with implementation can be easier said than done, and different companies apply different organizational approaches to achieving this goal.

–    Antibodies - The Solution to Big Pharma’s Problems? 

Antibodies have received intense interest during the past several years, and for good reason:

O     antibodies are the fastest growing drug class with close to one thousand antibody projects currently in research and/or clinical development;

o     antibody products and technologies are at the center of many biotech-pharma and biotech-biotech deal-making activities; and

o     antibodies have energized M&A activity as many small and big biotech companies with antibody technologies and pipelines have been acquired by big pharma at high valuations.

Are these dynamics just a reflection of an overheated trend that will cool down in the not-too-distant future, or are we in a new era where streamlined 3rd, 4th and nth generation antibody therapies will come to dominate drug development pipelines, conquer new indications and provide widely available, efficacious and safe therapies?

Moderated by Dr. Fritz Rudert, General Manager, FHR Consulting will be joined by Dr. Simon Moroney, CEO, Morphosys; Jette Asboe Lassen, Director of Business Development, Symphogen; Dr. Masamichi Koike, CEO and President, BioWa; and Dr. Margaret Karow, Executive Director, Research, Amgen, to discuss whether antibodies have actually come closer to being a “magic bullet” or are just another promising drug class among the rest.

–    Translational Medicine - How do we Fund Novel, Breakthrough Research More Efficiently? Perhaps the greatest challenge facing modern medicine today is the reconciliation of the short-term, earnings driven requirements of today’s medical marketplace, with the risky, capital-intensive, decade-long process usually required to bring transformative medical ideas to fruition. This tension is felt intensely at the intersection between the early, most innovative ideas and the point where substantial funding is required to move them forward. The techniques and processes required to move past this hurdle are what the medical research community have come to refer to as translational medicine.

Moderated by John P. Richert, Vice President Business & Technology Development Program, North Carolina Biotechnology Center, this session will bring together practitioners of translational medicine including universities that are focused on adding significant commercial value to a product prior to licensing; research institutions that are uniquely positioned to work in this nexus and companies that have been successful in crossing this hurdle.

–    ABCs of Licensing.

Young companies often look to that first licensing deal to create a revenue stream for the company. Most of these same companies are just not successful in “landing” that first deal. The reasons for such high failure rates can often be attributed to the fact that no one ever taught the young company the ABCs of Licensing.

Although not a blueprint, there are some best practices that, if followed, are more likely to lead to a strong licensing arrangement for both the licensor and the licensee.

Moderated by Diane Romza-Kutz, Chair, Life Sciences Practice Group, Neal, Gerber & Eisenberg LL, this interactive session will work through the steps to consider in securing a potential licensee’s interest, being ready for a licensee to engage in negotiations and concluding a successful license arrangement.

EBD Group’s events are widely recognized as being the gold standard for highly productive bio / pharma partnering meetings. Like all EBD Group events, partnering at BioPharm America 2008 is powered by partneringONE(TM), the industry’s most advanced partnering system. partneringONE enables participants to efficiently mine a large pool of potential partners, and identify and pre-arrange private one-to-one meetings with dozens of company targets.

General registration for BioPharm America is now available at http://www.ebdgroup.com/bpa/registration.htm

Advance media registration for BioPharm America is now available online. Registration is complimentary for credentialed members of the media. To register, please visit http://www.ebdgroup.com/bpa/press_reg.htm.

About BioPharm America

BioPharm America is where biotech industry partnerships get started. Meet one-to-one with biotech and pharma executives from around the world to identify and enter strategic relationships. BioPharm America is the only partnering event in North America based on the same winning formula as EBD Group’s acclaimed European events BIO-Europe and BIO-Europe Spring(R). BioPharm America is simply an unmatched opportunity for companies across the biotech value-chain to meet and do business.  For more information please visit www.biopharmamerica.com.

About EBD Group

EBD Group is the leading partnering firm for the global biotechnology industry. Since 1993, firms in the life sciences have leveraged EBD Group’s partnering conferences, technology and services to identify business opportunities and develop strategic relationships that drive their business.

EBD Group’s conferences are run in collaboration with leading industry players and international trade associations. They include BIO-Europe, the world’s largest stand-alone life science partnering conference (organized with the support of the Biotechnology Industry Organization, BIO); BIO-Europe Spring(R); BioPharm America(TM) (EBD’s new North American partnering event); and BioEquity Europe (co-organized with BioCentury Publications and BIO).

EBD’s novel, Web-based, partnering service partneringONE(TM) is also used at numerous third-party events around the world. Outside of the conference format, EBD Group’s consultants can provide hands-on assistance for firms seeking to in- or out-license products and technologies. EBD Group has offices in the USA and Europe.

Select Biosciences is proud to announce their inaugural AgriGenomics World Congress. This year’s event will take place at the NH Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky in Amsterdam.

AgriGenomics.eu

Alongside an exhibition of selected scientific posters and service providers, Select Biosciences is organizing a two day event gathering some of the most influential players in the field from Europe, America and across the globe.

The agenda will include world leading research from renowned speakers including:

• Karen Century
  Senior Scientist, Mendel Biotechnology
• Jim Dunwell
  Professor, University of Reading
• Dominique Job
  Laboratory Head, Bayer CropScience and CNRS
• Johnathan Napier
  Research Leader, Rothamsted Research
• Andrew Paterson
  Distinguished Research Professor and Director of the Plant Genome Mapping Laboratory, University of Georgia
• Joseph Petolino
  Senior Scientist, Dow AgroSciences
• Tatiana Tatusova
  Genome Group Coordinator, National Centre for Biotechnology Information, National Institutes of Health
• And many more…

The full two day agenda includes the following sessions:

• Metabolic Engineering
• System-Based Approaches
• Informatics
• Traits & Applications

To guarantee a high attendance at this exciting event Select Biosciences will maintain their traditional low registration fees and group booking discounts.

Full conference passes include admission to all sessions and the exhibition as well as conference documentation.

Lunch, coffee breaks and the drinks reception provide ample time for networking and to continue discussions from the question and answer sessions.

The conferences division of Select Biosciences Ltd. is focused on organizing specialist biomedical meetings each year. Experts from both academia and commerce are invited to present timely information from current research through to commercial implementation of new technologies. These events also provide a unique networking facility and the opportunity to reach a highly targeted scientific audience.
www.selectbiosciences.com

ROCKVILLE, MD and KYOTO, JAPAN–July 28, 2008 - Seegene, Inc. and Shimadzu Corporation today announced a strategic partnership to combine Seegene’s Seeplex(R) multi-pathogen tests with Shimadzu’s MultiNA (1) analytical platform. Under terms of the deal, Shimadzu and Seegene will collaborate on integrating the Seeplex polymerase chain reaction-based tests with Shimadzu’s MultiNA high-speed electrophoresis system to provide a highly sensitive, high-throughput multi-pathogen detection and analysis solution.

“This strategic agreement reinforces our plan to bring solutions, and not only products, to our customers,” said Dr. Jong-Yoon Chun, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Seegene. “Shimadzu’s MultiNA is outstanding in the market for electrophoresis analysis and a perfect match for the Seeplex family of multi-pathogen tests.”

“Seegene’s novel multi-pathogen detection test working with Shimadzu’s next-generation electrophoresis systems creates an unparalleled screening platform for laboratories around the world,” said Yoshiyuki Togawa, General Manager, Shimadzu. “Seeplex tests running on MultiNA is the fast, accurate and efficient way for laboratories to screen for the most rampant and debilitating pathogens infecting people around worldwide.”

Shimadzu’s MultiNA is a microchip electrophoresis system that quickly and easily performs DNA and RNA nucleic acid size confirmation and quantification. The system uses microchip technology to conduct fully automated high-speed electrophoresis separation, and fluorescence detection to perform high-sensitivity analysis.

Seeplex tests are based on a breakthrough multiplexing PCR technology capable of detecting multiple pathogens in a single tube. Seeplex-based tests deliver maximum specificity, reproducibility and sensitivity and can be applied to a broad range of molecular diagnostics, including human, animal, plant and microorganism. Currently, Seegene’s Seeplex multi-pathogen detection tests offer labs worldwide simple, cost-effective and comprehensive screening for STDs, respiratory viruses, human papillomaviruses, sepsis and pneumonia.

(1) MultiNA is Research Use Only.

About Shimadzu

Founded in 1875, Shimadzu Corporation develops and manufactures analytical and monitoring equipment for science laboratories worldwide. Its products include imaging systems for medical diagnosis such as ultrasound systems and mobile X-ray systems, as well as spectrophotometers and chromatography systems for the life science sector. For more information about Shimadzu’s extensive line of laboratory offerings, please visit www.shimadzu.com.

About Seegene

Seegene, Inc. is pioneering the field of multi-pathogen testing. Seegene applies its novel and proprietary Seeplex system utilizing “DPO (Dual Priming Oligo)” and “ACP (Annealing Control Primer)” to create multi-pathogen tests delivering maximum specificity, reproducibility and sensitivity. With over 360 citations and several patents and patents pending, Seegene has been offering advanced molecular diagnostics services to over 1,200 major global institutes in more than 30 countries. Seegene is actively working with both the scientific and OEM business community. Seegene’s mission is to integrate Seeplex with disease diagnostics to provide a new guideline for effectively treating patients. Seegene was founded in 2000 and is based in Rockville, MD and Seoul, Korea. For more information please visit www.seegene.com.

All trademarks and registered trademarks are property of their respective owners.

The future of the pharmaceutical industry lies with biotechnology. Biotech drugs account for around 10-15% of the current pharmaceutical market, and the sector is outperforming the market as a whole in terms of growth. With increasing regulatory clarity and the expiries of key patents covering innovator biologics, the development of biosimilars for a range of recombinant protein classes is becoming increasingly attractive.

The 2nd annual Biosimilars Conference will bring experts from the industry and academy sector together to discuss the latest developments in biosimilars regulations, clinical assessment, manufacturing processes and pricing and reimbursement. Through a series of presentations and interactive discussions, participants will gain new insight and share hands-on experiences in the latest trends and practices in the development of biosimilars.

http://www.biosimilars-events.com/index.html

Select Biosciences is proud to announce their 4th annual Ion Channel Targets conference and exhibition. This year’s event will take place at the South San Francisco Conference Center. Alongside an exhibition of selected scientific posters and service providers, Select Biosciences is organizing a two day event gathering some of the most influential players in the field from America and across the globe. The agenda will include world leading research from renowned speakers including:

• Gary Desir
  Professor, Yale School of Medicine
• Min Li
  Professor, Department of Neuroscience & High Throughput Biology Center, John Hopkins School of Medicine
• Merritt Maduke
  Assistant Professor, Stanford University
• George Miljanich
  Chief Executive Officer, Airmid
• Birgit Priest
  Senior Research Fellow, Department of Ion Channels, Merck Research Laboratories
• Frederick Sachs
  Distinguished Professor, New York State University at Buffalo
• David Triggle
  Professor, New York State University at Buffalo
• And many more…

The full two day agenda includes the following sessions:

• Calcium Channels
• Potassium Channels
• Sodium Channels
• Target Opportunities
• Therapeutics

To guarantee a high attendance at this exciting event Select Biosciences will maintain their traditional low registration fees and group booking discounts.

Full conference passes include admission to all sessions and the exhibition as well as conference documentation. Lunch, coffee breaks and the drinks reception provide ample time for networking and to continue discussions from the question and answer sessions.

To further increase the value of their trip, delegates can opt to attend the additional business tutorials and training courses which will be co-located with the conference. Details of the tutorials and courses are available on IonChannelTargets.com

The conferences division of Select Biosciences Ltd. is focused on organizing specialist biomedical meetings each year. Experts from both academia and commerce are invited to present timely information from current research through to commercial implementation of new technologies. These events also provide a unique networking facility and the opportunity to reach a highly targeted scientific audience.
www.selectbiosciences.com

Aarhus, Denmark — June 12, 2008 — Today, CLC bio released their new Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) solution, CLC Genomics Workbench, which incorporates cutting-edge technology and algorithms, while also supporting and integrating with the rest of a typical NGS workflow.

CLC Genomics Workbench is the first comprehensive analysis package which can analyze and visualize data from all the major NGS platforms, such as SOLiD by Applied Biosystems, 454 GS flx by Roche Applied Science, Solexa by Illumina, and HeliScope by Helicos.

Director of Scientific Solutions at CLC bio, Dr. Roald Forsberg, PhD, states, “We set out to overcome two major challenges when analyzing Next Generation Sequencing data. One was to eliminate the analysis bottleneck by being able to analyze NGS data faster than it is produced. We overcame that by implementing an accelerated assembly algorithm in CLC Genomics Workbench which preliminary benchmark tests confirm is a very fast assembly algorithm. Secondly, we wanted to deliver user-friendly software which makes powerful NGS analysis software available to all biomedical researchers.”

In benchmark tests, CLC bio has assembled half a million 454 reads against the full E.coli reference genome in around 2 minutes on a dual-core computer with 1 gigabyte RAM. This speed-up, based on integrated SIMD high-performance computing technology, increases even more when using a computer with more CPU-cores and RAM. CLC bio expects to release a benchmark white paper in the near future.

CLC Genomics Workbench 1.0 takes full advantage of “paired end” data, and supports a number of features and work-tasks, such as reference assembly of genomes, de novo assembly of genomes, SNP detection using advanced models, multiplexing, and high-throughput trimming.

Having completed the first version of CLC Genomics Workbench, CLC bio is already pursuing an ambitious development roadmap, which will enhance future softwares with features such as Digital Gene Expression, metagenomics, clustering and assembly of EST and cDNA sequences, large amounts of genomics and transcriptomics downstream analyses, and workflow support.

CLC Genomics Workbench has already been chosen as Next Generation Sequencing platform for all Danish universities. To read more about CLC Genomics Workbench go to: www.clcbio.com/genomics

About CLC bio

CLC bio is the world’s leading full-service bioinformatics solution provider, solely focusing on the development of bioinformatics: software, hardware, data analysis, and custom-designed bioinformatics algorithms.

CLC bio’s mission is to be among the most innovative bioinformatics companies in the 21st century. This is realized through:

• Development of bioinformatics software and hardware based on the latest scientific findings
• User-friendly, integrated and intuitive cross-platform software solutions
• Continuous focus on customer needs and superior customer service
• Frequent product updates including the latest IT technologies and bioinformatics algorithms
• A flexible IT architecture, enabling customers to buy or develop individualized solutions at a reasonable price

Rockville, MD, and Edinburgh, Scotland, June 17, 2008:  Seegene and Lab901 today announced the availability of a novel automated multi-pathogen walk-away detection platform for European hospitals. Based on the Seeplex(R) multiplexing PCR system and ScreenTape(R)  gel electrophoresis detection system, this new Seeplex/ScreenTape detection platform will be introduced to clinical and research laboratories in 10 countries across Europe beginning this month.

Seegene and Lab901 have agreed to co-market the testing solutions in the European market. The two companies are responding to requests in Europe for a new automated testing technique to perform what is a routine, but not always consistent, test for biological agents in clinics. Hospital centers in The Netherlands, United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Norway, Greece, Austria, France, Israel and Turkey have started demonstrations of the automated Seeplex/ScreenTape system.

“As active pathogenic surveillance becomes the norm for healthcare regimes worldwide, clinical research and reference labs will be placed under increased pressure to perform. It is essential that these labs gain the tools and systems that enable them to increase the speed and efficiency of pathogen detection,” said Dr. Jong-Yoon Chun, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Seegene. “The automated Seeplex/ScreenTape system sets a new standard for automated detection ease of use and performance.” 

“The simplicity, speed and sample traceability of the Seeplex/ScreenTape system is clearly of real value to diagnostic microbiology and virology laboratories,” said Joel Fearnley, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Lab901. “The ScreenTape system optimized for Seeplex multi-pathogen tests will help speed up discovery and diagnostic procedures.”

The automated Seeplex/ScreenTape tests are based on a Seeplex multiplexing PCR technology from Seegene, which is capable of detecting multiple pathogens in a single tube, and ScreenTape(R),  an automated walk-away gel electrophoresis detection system from Lab901.

The Seeplex tests with the CE mark and ISO 13485 deliver maximum specificity, reproducibility and sensitivity and can be applied to a broad range of molecular diagnostics, including human, animal, plant and microorganisms. The ScreenTape system will automate the simultaneous analysis of eight or sixteen Seeplex PCR samples. Processing speed for 8 samples is completed within 10 minutes; 16 samples within 18 minutes. ScreenTape displays results using an easy to interpret positive and negative read out. With no gel or buffer preparation and no system priming, even untrained operators can rapidly generate accurate and reproducible test data.

The automated Seeplex/ScreenTape tests are currently available for sexually transmitted diseases (STD), human papillomavirus (HPV), respiratory viruses (RV) and bacterial pneumonia (PB). In addition, further automated Seeplex tests are under development and will be available soon. Particularly, hospitals have showed high interest for the single tube Seeplex Sepsis test scheduled for July release.

About Seegene:

Seegene, Inc. is pioneering the field of multi-pathogen testing. Seegene applies its novel and proprietary Seeplex(R) system utilizing “DPO (Dual Priming Oligo)” and “ACP (Annealing Control Primer)” to create multi-pathogen tests delivering maximum specificity, reproducibility and sensitivity. With over 260 citations and several patents and patents pending, Seegene has been offering advanced molecular diagnostics services to over 1,000 major global institutes in more than 25 countries. Seegene’s mission is to integrate Seeplex(R) with disease diagnostics to provide a new guideline for effectively treating patients. Seegene was founded in 2000 and is based in Rockville, MD and Seoul, Korea. For more information please visit www.seegene.com.

About the Seeplex(R) System: Frontier of Multi-pathogen Detection:

Seeplex(R) is a breakthrough multiplexing PCR technology that enables a new standard in simultaneous multi-pathogen detection. Seeplex(R) works in combination with automatic detection systems such as ScreenTape(R) and delivers a benchmark in testing accuracy, efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

About Lab901:

Lab901 based in Edinburgh, UK, is a leading laboratory automation Company. The D800 ScreenTape(R) for DNA analysis was the first product from a pipeline of consumables that run on the company’s TapeStation(TM) instrument. The new DS12 ScreenTape(R) System, specifically developed for Seeplex(R) tests, automates the analysis of Seegene’s multi-pathogen PCR tests.

About ScreenTape(R) System:

The ScreenTape(R) system is the first automated, walk-away solution for gel electrophoresis. Customers simply load their samples and the ScreenTape(R) into the compact TapeStation(TM) instrument. In just under 10 minutes, fully analysed results for DNA, RNA and protein samples are presented in an easy-to-interpret format.