Oxford Gene Technology last week named Amsterdam-based Kreatech Diagnostics as the exclusive distributor of its CytoSure microarray products in France.
France is a "key market" for OGT, due in part to its "strong emphasis on health care," according to James Clough, vice president of clinical genomic solutions at the UK-based company.
"Although we have had limited direct sales into France, we have long recognized recognized this country as a key market for our CytoSure arrays, which is in part due to the strong emphasis on health care in France," Clough told BioArray News last week.
"To ensure we provided this region with the highest quality service, we had to identify an experienced distributor within the genomics arena with an excellent pedigree of customer service and technical expertise," he said of the Kreatech deal.
While OGT sells direct in most markets, it has relied on distributors in Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, and Turkey, Clough said, and is "considering similar deals in other territories in the near future." OGT is "expanding rapidly and is constantly monitoring new markets and assessing the benefits of going direct to the market versus a distributor approach," he said.
OGT's CytoSure comparative genomic hybridization product line includes arrays focused on single disorders and genome-wide arrays for syndromes used by cytogeneticists and molecular biologists for research purposes. The company launched a line of International Standard Cytogenomic Array Consortium-designed chips last month (see BAN 2/9/2010).
According to Kreatech, the deal will enable the Dutch firm to sell its labeling kits together with OGT arrays. "Through the distribution of OGT’s CytoSure we are now able to package the arrays with our unique [Universal Linkage System] labeling technology, offering our customers a complete consumable solution," Harald Berninger, the firm's vice president of sales and marketing, said in a statement.
Kreatech's core ULS technology is an enzyme-free labeling method that couples a monofunctional platinum complex to a detectable molecule of choice, such as DNA, RNA, or protein. Traditionally, the company's customers have used the ULS kits for comparative genomic hybridization, miRNA, and gene-expression studies, and have used its ULS-powered FISHBright labeling kits for fluorescent in situ hybridization applications. In recent years the firm has focused its sales and marketing efforts on the cytogenetics research market (see BAN 2/3/2009).
According to Berninger, OGT's "advanced aCGH range represents the next step in cytogenetics from [Kreatech's] FISH probes." He noted that OGT's CytoSure products are the "only arrays with content specifically optimized for the cytogenetic community."
Financial details of the pact were not discussed.