NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) - Link Technologies has entered a non-exclusive license agreement with PNA Inventor Group that will allow it to manufacture and sell monomers for peptide nucleic acid synthesis worldwide.
Link Technologies said that numerous uses for PNAs have been identified or proposed for molecular biology applications, diagnostic assays, and antisense therapies.
The company added that it expects PNA-related technologies to account for 10 percent of the global DNA synthesis market by 2010. This market is currently worth $800 million and growing at more than 10 percent per year, the company said.
PNAs are oligonucleotide analogs in which the sugar-phosphate backbone of DNA is substituted by a pseudo-peptide backbone. They hybridize to complementary DNA or RNA, but are not degraded by nucleases or proteases, Link Technologies said.
Link Technologies said that it will begin offering PNA monomers that are compatible with commercial automated oligonucleotide, peptide, or combinatorial synthesizers, in July.
Financial terms of the agreement were not released.