>>FREMONT, Calif.--(BW HealthWire)--June 24, 2002--LumiCyte, Inc.
Five-Year Agreement Grants Shimadzu Exclusive Marketing and Distribution Rights to Sell LumiCyte's Proprietary SELDI-based Protein-Mapping Services, and Includes a Multi-Million Dollar Investment by Shimadzu in LumiCyte
LumiCyte, Inc., a biotechnology services innovator, today announced that it has signed an exclusive agreement for Kyoto, Japan-based Shimadzu Corp. to market and distribute LumiCyte's proprietary SELDI-based protein mapping services in Japan. The 5-year agreement with Shimadzu, valued at more than $30 M USD, is the first expansion of LumiCyte's distribution capability outside of the United States. Beyond the distribution of LumiCyte's services, the agreement includes a multi-million dollar investment by Shimadzu.
Founded in 1875, the Shimadzu Corporation is a $1.6 billion company (FY2001) that provides a wide range of highly value-added products and systems, including measuring instruments, medical, aircraft and industrial equipment. Shimadzu will commit a team to market and sell LumiCyte's proprietary SELDI-based protein discovery and biomarker validation services -- in the form of milestone-based contracts - to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in Japan to help them optimize their drug development efforts.
"Shimadzu's decision to invest in LumiCyte after an extensive evaluation process reflects our view that we have a winning strategy and business model for Japan. We believe their distinguished history and leadership in clinical proteomics and bioinformatics will enable our customers in Japan to rapidly implement the best solutions available for drug development," said Mr. Shigehiko Hattori, managing director, marketing and sales for Shimadzu. "Our investment in LumiCyte represents an important strategic decision for Shimadzu. LumiCyte is using the most powerful biochip platform technology for protein mapping and discovery we know, providing biomarker information with speed, accuracy and depth that is unmatched by competitive offerings."
"Shimadzu's excellent reputation and relations with big pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical institutions in Japan will help accelerate LumiCyte's introduction of our advanced technologies to this important market," said Dr. T. William Hutchens, LumiCyte founder, CEO and inventor of SELDI technology.
LumiCyte's services are based on its advanced SELDI biochips, its powerful data analysis tools and its BioPhore Knowledgebase(TM), which includes LumiCyte's large human serum protein database. LumiCyte uses these proprietary technologies to rapidly measure disease-related protein profiles from only trace amounts of blood. Unlike other biochip approaches, LumiCyte's proprietary SELDI-based protein mapping technology does not require specific biomarker proteins to be known in advance, nor does it require the generation of specific capture agents, or labeling to detect the proteins. This greatly simplifies and accelerates the biomarker discovery and validation process.
Invented by LumiCyte's CEO, Dr. T. William Hutchens, during his tenure at the Baylor College of Medicine at the Texas Medical Center in Houston, SELDI has been hailed by many experts for its fundamental utility in the field of proteomics and has aided and enabled breakthrough discoveries in disease research. LumiCyte holds exclusive rights to use the SELDI technology to sell SELDI-based discovery services and information to the life sciences industry. LumiCyte also holds exclusive rights to provide diagnostic instruments and devices, protein biochip consumables, services, information and other products for use by individuals.
The multi-million dollar investment by Shimadzu adds to funding that LumiCyte has received from Redleaf Venture Management, Tullis-Dickerson & Co., Inc., and OrbiMed Advisors LLC.
About Shimadzu Corp.
Shimadzu Corporation, the world leading company for the analytical instruments manufacturing, consists of four major divisions including analytical & measuring instruments, medical systems, aircraft equipment, and semiconductor equipment, with $1.6 billion of consolidated net sales for fiscal 2001 approximately. The headquarters is based in Kyoto, Japan with 8,000 employees worldwide. Targeting the life science market as one of its major focused areas, it offers the comprehensive range of genomic and proteomic products including High throughput DNA /protein sequencers and reagents for prompt direct PCR. DNA /protein analysis services are available as well. shimadzu.com
About LumiCyte, Inc.
The advanced, proprietary biotechnology services offered by Fremont, CA-based LumiCyte, Inc. allow pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to optimize drug development and enable physicians to offer more individualized and accurate care to their patients. lumicyte.com <<
Cheers, Tuck |
