>> The prototype trickle down company is QGENF <<
Re. "trickle", we've discussed PBSC. Now we have what may become a new classic, "PBSC meets QGENF"......
Packard BioScience Company Announces Strategic Marketing Alliance and Equity Stake in Agencourt
Bioscience Corporation
MERIDEN, Conn., Oct. 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Packard BioScience Company
(Nasdaq: PBSC), a worldwide leader in the life science tools industry,
announced today that it has purchased an equity stake of less than 10 percent
in Agencourt Bioscience Corporation, a biotech company focused on providing
nucleic acid purification kits and other assays for the genomics and
proteomics marketplaces. In addition, Packard and Agencourt have entered into
a Strategic Marketing Alliance in which the two companies have agreed to
co-market their respective products for nucleic acid purification.
Agencourt's patented Solid Phase Reversible Immobilization (SPRI)
technology was developed and utilized at the Whitehead Institute Center for
Genome Research to purify over 6 billion base pairs of DNA for the Human
Genome Project. Developed to generically purify any DNA, this proprietary
technology has been widely adopted for cDNA sequencing, shotgun sequencing and
large-scale purification of PCR products needed for large-scale microarraying
and biochip manufacturing. SPRI technology is unique in that it utilizes
magnetic particles to isolate nucleic acids from other biomolecular
contaminants producing longer read lengths, greater efficiency and cost
savings.
"The Strategic Marketing Alliance with Agencourt provides Packard with a
highly effective and proven chemistry to complement Packard's high and low
throughput purification automation platforms," said Emery G. Olcott, President
and CEO of Packard BioScience Company. "Through the use of our equipment and
Agencourt's chemistry, our respective customers will be capable of running
over 4,000 purification nucleic acid preparations, or preps, per hour, a
magnitude of approximately ten times current industry average. We believe
that as the genomics and proteomics marketplaces continue to grow, our
customers will demand increasingly more efficient and effective purification
platforms. The alliance with Agencourt provides Packard with a proven
chemistry that will enhance our ability to respond to the expected increased
demand for high-end purification equipment and procedures. Finally, Packard
strengths in the microarraying field, coupled with Agencourt's core
purification product line and R&D pipeline, will serve as a solid foundation
for the development of high-throughput technologies for chip-based expression
and proteomics analysis." Mr. Olcott will serve as a member of Agencourt's
board of directors.
"We are excited to have Packard as a strategic partner and a stockholder
in our company," said Brian McKernan, President and CEO of Agencourt.
"Packard's significant marketing and distribution strength in the Life
Sciences market will provide Agencourt with immediate market presence and
customer service capabilities. We believe that the combination of Agencourt's
chemistry and Packard's automation equipment creates a highly efficient
purification platform because it requires no centrifugation, filtration or
caustic solutions. The absence of these extra steps saves time and money."
Agencourt Bioscience Corporation is a developer of nucleic acid
purification kits and other assays for the life sciences industries.
Agencourt's primary focus is to develop assays that will be used for the
genomics and proteomics market segments. Two of Agencourt's founders have
worked at the Whitehead Institute Center for Genome Research, and have
significant experience in marrying the chemistries and instrumentation for
high-throughput genomics. Agencourt is located in Beverly, Massachusetts.
Packard BioScience Company is a leading global developer, manufacturer and
marketer of instruments and related consumables and services for use in the
life sciences research and nuclear industries. The Company is primarily
focused on the rapidly growing areas of drug discovery, genomics and biochip
analysis and is continuing to develop integrated platforms based on a wide
range of technologies and instrumentation. Packard's experience in working in
more than 60 countries with market leading customers has allowed the Company
to establish a worldwide leadership position in many of its primary product
categories, with well-recognized brand names and a reputation for high
quality, reliable instruments. Recently, Packard has focused on the
development of enabling biochip technologies, and has started to exploit its
pioneering biochip production patents through both direct sales of biochip
products as well as through licensing agreements with other biochip
manufacturers.
Certain statements contained herein are "forward-looking" statements which
involve a high degree of risk and uncertainty, including, without limitation,
the statements regarding product performance and market acceptance thereof,
and may be identified by the use of forward-looking words or phrases such as
"expected," "expecting" or "anticipated." Many factors could cause actual
results to differ materially from these statements including, without
limitation, loss of market share from competition, the company's ability to
successfully introduce new products and platforms, market acceptance of new
products and platforms, our ability to protect our intellectual property, not
infringing on the intellectual property rights of others, changes in the
markets we serve and economic issues such as interest rate and foreign
exchange fluctuations. These and other risk factors are discussed in detail in
our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Packard BioScience
Mike Zebarth
Tel: 203-639-2340
Fax: 203-235-1347
E-mail: mzebarth@packardbioscience.com
Noonan/Russo Communications, Inc.
Tel: 212-696-4455
John Capodanno, ext. 246 (investors); j.capodanno@noonanrusso.com
Hala Bashir, ext. 356 (media); h.bashir@noonanrusso.com
Agencourt Bioscience Corporation
Brian McKernan
Tel: 978-867-2600
E-mail: brianmc@agencourt.com
SOURCE Packard BioScience
CONTACT: Mike Zebarth of Packard BioScience, 203-639-2340, fax -
203-235-1347, mzebarth@packardbioscience.com; investor - John
Capodanno, 212-696-4455, ext. 246; j.capodanno@noonanrusso.com,
Hala Bashir, 212-696-4455, ext. 356, h.bashir@noonanrusso.com,
both of Noonan/Russo Communications, Inc.; or Brian McKernan of
Agencourt Bioscience Corporation, 978-867-2600,
brianmc@agencourt.com |
