ij,
Well I personally couldn't resist at $12 today. However, as I've mentioned before, there is a reasonable valuation argument to be made that waiting for the stock to go up before buying it is actually reasonable.
The argument basically is that this could be a "gorilla" type technology, with potentially huge sales. If this turns out to be the case, then buying the stock at a few multiples of its present price would still not be too late to enjoy substantial gains. If however, their technology never really catches fire, then you will have done well to have avoided the stock altogether.
The other confounding factor is of course the Roche litigation. My sense here is that this is a game of chicken. The downside for Roche of losing the license to the technology is huge (multi-billion), and even if the chances of this are fairly small I can't believe a European company is really going to want to play chicken with the US legal system and ever let this go to full trial.
I'm not really surprised at the present weak stock price. There's a big seller (Soros) who is likely not yet done, and at the last cc the company pretty much announced an Amazon-like strategy (we're going to spend what it takes to make this successful, damn the quarterly results).
The important long-term issue is of course the technology. I'd be interested to hear what your friend thinks. If any other lurkers at places that have the M-series up and running have heard how things are doing from a user perspective it would be great to hear from you as well.
Here are a few abstracts that show a range of applications:
Dev Biol Stand 1999;97:135-47 Related Articles, Books, LinkOut
Applications for the new electrochemiluminescent (ECL) and biosensor technologies.
Swanson SJ, Jacobs SJ, Mytych D, Shah C, Indelicato SR, Bordens RW
Schering-Plough Research Institute, Kenilworth, NJ 07033, USA.
Biosensor and electrochemiluminescent (ECL) assays are replacing enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) at Schering-Plough as immunoassays of choice to monitor cytokine levels and detect anti-cytokine antibody responses during cytokine therapy. These new assays provide increased sensitivity and a better correlation with biological assays. Biosensor assays using the BIACORE 2000 (BIACORE, Uppsala, Sweden) are being adopted to support preclinical and clinical trials for the detection of antibodies capable of binding to IL-10 and IL-4. Significant advantages when using a biosensor assay are that real-time and label-free detection permit increased throughput and direct detection of binding interactions which enables detection of low affinity antibodies that are not detected by ELISA. The ECL assays using the ORIGEN Analyser (IGEN, Gaithersburg, MD) that we have implemented to replace existing ELISAs for quantification of serum IL-10 and serum interferon alfa levels are more sensitive and less subject to matrix effects. Data obtained during the validation of these assays are described.
J Immunol Methods 2000 Mar 6;236(1-2):9-17 Related Articles, Books, LinkOut
Rapid and sensitive immunomagnetic-electrochemiluminescent detection of staphyloccocal enterotoxin B.
Kijek TM, Rossi CA, Moss D, Parker RW, Henchal EA
Diagnostic Systems Division, United States Army Medical Institute of Infectious Diseases, 1425 Porter Street, Fort Detrick, MD 21702, USA.
Sensitive, rapid and reproducible detection of staphyloccocal enterotoxin B (SEB) in a range of different biological matrices was achieved using the ORIGEN((R)) Immunoassay System (Igen, Inc). The homologous immunoassay format consisted of a double antibody sandwich in which a biotinylated capture antibody, pre-bound to streptavidin-coated paramagnetic beads, was used to bind antigen from test samples. A detector antibody, labeled with ruthenium (II) tris-bipyridal chelate, was added and, when bound to the bead immunocomplex, generated light in the presence of an excess of tripropylamine. The light was detected and measured by the ORIGEN analyzer. The sensitivity of this assay was 1 pg of enterotoxin per ml of serum, urine, tissue, or buffer and was highly reproducible. Concentration curves generated from SEB standards produced consistently wide linear ranges (0.1-100 ng/ml), making quantitation possible with only two dilutions of sample (undiluted and 1:1000). The assay used 50 microl of sample per test and required a 30 min incubation period in addition to a 1 min per tube reading time (50 tubes maximum). This assay was significantly better in terms of sensitivity, linear range, and assay time than the standard microplate enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and should permit early SEB detection in clinical samples, food, and environmental samples.
Clin Chem 1998 Jun;44(6 Pt 1):1161-9 Related Articles, Books, LinkOut
Detection of tyrosinase mRNA in melanoma by reverse transcription-PCR and electrochemiluminescence.
O'Connell CD, Juhasz A, Kuo C, Reeder DJ, Hoon DS
Biotechnology Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899, USA. coc@nist.gov
Increased sensitivity and improved quantitation of analytical tests used in biotechnology and clinical chemistry are goals of many laboratories. We have used tyrosinase primers to specifically amplify by RT-PCR the tyrosinase mRNA expressed by the M12 melanoma cell line in a background of mRNA from breast cancer cells. An electrochemiluminescence detection procedure was used as a readout system for this study. Biotinylated post-PCR cDNA samples were hybridized to a tris(2,2'-bipyridine)ruthenium(II) (TBR) chelate-labeled oligonucleotide probe, and the hybrid was subsequently captured by streptavidin-coated Dynabeads. When either the QPCR System 5000 or the Origen 1 Analyzer System were used, the luminescence emitted by the TBR-chelate of the captured specific post-PCR product was assessed. Tyrosinase-specific mRNA isolated from approximately 1-10 melanoma cells in a background of 10(7) cells could be detected. We improved the sensitivity and logistics of the assay through the use of rTth for reverse transcription and amplification. Tyrosinase mRNA was detected in blood from 7 of 16 melanoma patients, whereas none of the 5 healthy donor bloods were positive (P = 0.01; Wilcoxon test).
: J Immunol Methods 1997 Aug 7;206(1-2):25-33 Related Articles, Books, LinkOut
A highly sensitive electrochemiluminescence immunoassay for interferon alfa-2b in human serum.
Obenauer-Kutner LJ, Jacobs SJ, Kolz K, Tobias LM, Bordens RW
Schering-Plough Research Institute, Kenilworth, NJ 07033, USA.
A highly sensitive immunoassay for the quantitative measurement of recombinant interferon alfa-2b (IFN alfa-2b) in serum was developed using the ORIGEN electrochemiluminescence (ECL) detection system. The ECL assay developed uses a ruthenylated mouse monoclonal anti-IFN-alfa antibody and a sheep polyclonal anti-IFN-alfa antibody that has been biotinylated. An immune complex, formed between the antibodies and the IFN in the serum, is captured by streptavidin coated paramagnetic beads. The assay is sensitive and can accurately measure 4 IU/ml in undiluted serum samples. In addition, this assay requires less labor than classical ELISAs and is not significantly affected by individual serum factors. The total assay variance for both intra- and inter-assay precision is < 10%. The assay is specific for the analyte. Mean percent recoveries in pooled and individual donor serum samples range from 84 to 114%. In addition, results of the ECL assay correlate well with a bioassay and were more accurate that an ELISA for the detection of interferon alfa-2b in individual human serum samples. The assay can be modified to measure other forms of the analyte and/or interferon in other matrices.
Transfus Med 1999 Sep;9(3):177-88 Related Articles, Books, LinkOut
Direct detection of bacteria in cellular blood products using bacterial ribosomal RNA-directed probes coupled to electrochemiluminescence.
Chaney R, Rider J, Pamphilon D
Bristol Institute for Transfusion Sciences, National Blood Service - Bristol Centre, UK.
Various techniques for detecting bacteria in blood products exist; however, none has been widely accepted. Our method permits direct bacterial detection in both platelet concentrates (PC) and packed red blood cells (RBC). This novel procedure targets bacterial ribosomal RNA (rRNA) but does not utilize culture or nucleic acid amplification. The assay comprises five steps: (1) release of bacterial rRNA by cell lysis with a combination of detergents and high heat; (2) hybridization of bacterial rRNA using a biotin- and a ruthenium (ORIGEN)-labelled oligonucleotide probe pair; (3) capture of labelled rRNA with streptavidin-coated magnetic beads; (4) concentration of labelled rRNA/bead complexes out of solution and onto an electrode surface with a magnet; (5) detection of ruthenium-labelled bacterial rRNA by application of voltage and consequent generation of the electrochemiluminescent (ECL) signal. Results using PC and RBC samples, spiked with clinically relevant gram-negative and -positive bacterial species, consistently demonstrated a linear relationship between ECL signal (equates to rRNA level) and colony forming units (CFU) mL(-1). Signals were generated in the range of 1400-80000 and 3500-500000 ECL units for unwashed and washed samples, respectively. This is equivalent to 10(5)-10(8)CFU mL(-1). These data demonstrate that therapeutic blood products significantly contaminated with bacteria may be identified prior to issue.
Clin Lab 2000;46(1-2):41-7 Related Articles, Books
Apolipoprotein B-100: employing the electrochemiluminescence technology of the Elecsys systems for the detection of the point mutation Arg(3500)Gln.
Klingler KR, Zech D, Wielckens K
Institut fur Klinische Chemie, Universitat zu Koln, Germany.
Apolipoprotein B-100 (apo B-100) plays an essential role in lipoprotein metabolism where it is involved in the clearance of LDL particles from the bloodstream. The mutation Arg3500Gln in the apo B-100 gene impairs the binding of the LDL particles to the LDL receptor, resulting in elevated LDL-cholesterol levels in the blood which, in turn, fuel the development of premature atherosclerosis. Here we describe a rapid, automated test for the detection of the most frequent mutation in the apo B-100 gene. This PCR-based test employs electrochemiluminescence as detection technology and allows the reliable discrimination of all genotypes. The assay has been especially developed for the non-specialized routine clinical chemistry laboratory by employing an analyzer and chemistry often present in this type of labof1tory. Because of its low costs and easy handling the assay can be performed on a daily basis.
Clinical and Diagnostic Laboratory Immunology, 01 1997, 107-111, Vol 4, No. 1
Copyright ¸ 1997 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Cytomegalovirus glycoprotein B-specific antibody analysis using electrochemiluminescence detection-based techniques
M Ohlin, M Silvestri, VA Sundqvist and CA Borrebaeck
Department of Immunotechnology, Lund University, Sweden. mats.ohlin@immun.lth.se
An electrochemiluminescence technique was used to develop versatile and sensitive assay strategies for determination of seroreactivities against biologically important cytomegalovirus neutralization epitopes expressed on glycoprotein B. Indirect binding assays showed wide linear assay ranges and revealed that serum samples diluted in parallel with a monoclonal antibody-based standard, simplifying quantitative analytical assessments.
Full article in all its gory detail is at:
cdli.asm.org
Peter |
