Kreatech Licenses Labels to Schleicher & Schuell
Kreatech has sub-licensed its Universal Linkage System to Schleicher & Schuell for incorporation into Schleicher & Schuell’s two-color labeling and fluorescent detection kit for its serum biomarker chip, the companies said this week.
The Universal Linkage System includes the ULS molecule, which consists of a platinum complex, a detectable molecule, and a leaving group that is displaced when the target reacts with the molecule, Krea tech said. This molecule binds to the N7 position of guanine to form a label for DNA and RNA, and in proteins, binds to nitrogen and sulphur that contains side chains of methionine, cysteine, and histidine. The ULS can then be coupled to labels such as fluorochromes, biotin, dinitrophenol, and horseradish peroxidase.
With the serum biomarker chip, each sample is labeled with either biotin or fluorescein, and then the samples are pooled and exposed to the antibody microarray so they can competitively bind to the 120 different antibodies spotted on the chip. Bound labeled proteins are detected using a streptavidin dye conjugate or the anti-fluorescein dye conjugate.
The ULS labeling system, according to the companies, minimizes background fluorescence because it uses indirect fluorescence detection.
The companies did not disclose the financial terms of the agreement.
Vivascience to Make Fractionation Kits for PerkinElmer
PerkinElmer this week signed onto a collaboration with Vivascience to create fractionation kits for proteomics-based biomarker analysis, the companies said.
Under the agreement, the companies will combine PerkinElmer’s elution chemistries with Vivascience’s membrane adsorber chromatography technology to create the kits. PerkinElmer said it will then market these biomarker screening reagent kits along with its bio marker screening instruments, which include its Multiprobe II liquid handling workstation and proTOF 2000 MALDI-TOF mass spectrometer. The parties did not disclose the financial terms of the agreement.
PerkinElmer also said that Predictive Diagnostics, which recently began using PerkinElmer’s proTOF for its clinical proteomics program, will have early access to the PerkinElmer/Vivascience fractionation kits through the end of the year.
Vivascience, of Hannover, Germany, produces chromatography technology that is rigid, unlike traditional resins and beads, the companies said.
MDS Reorganizes, Changes Name to Protana
MDS Proteomics has changed its name to Protana, and has received court approval for a financial reorganization announced June 1, the company said last week.
The new company will provide protein identification and analysis, lead optimization, and biomarker discovery services to outside parties. The name change “reflects the fact that the reorganized company will have a much broader focus than proteomics-based discovery research,” the company said. “Protana will be working in areas that encompass genomics, proteomics, clinical settings as well as lab services, and will span drug discovery to late stage work.”
The company’s operations have been merged with those of OptiMol, an early-stage drug development company that was 50 percent owned by MDS Proteomics, and its existing funded debt has been converted to equity.
The company has also sold its accumulated tax losses to MDS for $CA5 million ($3.75 million) and entered into a five-year technology license agreement with a subsidiary of MDS in which it has agreed to produce minimum $CA10 million in revenues. The company will have $CA25 million cash on hand and committed cash following the completion of this reorganization, it said. It has also negotiated a $CA5 million lease financing arrangement that it said it expects to close shortly.
This reorganization plan has been executed following the Canadian Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act, and has been unanimously been approved by its creditors and sanctioned by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, the company said.
Protana also said it expects to have a cash burn rate of $CA2.5 to $3 million, and “is expected to have sufficient resources to achieve cash flow breakeven,” the company said.
Cephalon Writes Off MDS Proteomics in Q2
Cephalon reported this week a $70.7 million increase in revenue from the second quarter of 2003 to the second quarter of 2004. The net increase was recorded despite a $30.1 million loss associated with the company’s write off of its investment in MDS Proteomics due to their recent financial reorganization.
ProteoMonitor reported in June that MDS had begun remaking itself as a biomarker company, pulling away from its daughter company MDS Proteomics (see PM 06-04-04) Cephalon bailed out of its $30.1 million deal after MDS’ warning in the fall of 2003 that MDSP would run out of cash by mid-2004, unless it found another funding source.
LSBC Renames Subsidiary Predictive Diagnostics
Large Scale Biology announced last week that it has renamed its wholly-owned subsidiary, Eclipse Diagnostics, with the title Predictive Diagnostics.
The name change reflects the company’s ongoing focus in the new field of predictive diagnostic medicine, said Kevin Ryan, president and CEO of LSBC.
PDI and LSBC’s corporate headquarters, molecular biology and product design laboratories are located in Vacaville, California. In addition to its internal resources, the company relies on a network of industry. government and academic collaborators througout the US and Europe to produce its products.
“Predictive Diagnostics, Inc. has pioneered the development of its proprietary BAMF technology for in silico biomarker discovery for use in early diagnosis of life-threatening diseases such as ovarian cancer,” said Ryan.
Further information about PDI and its proprietary BAMF Technology can be found on PDI’s website, www.predictivediagnostics.com.