2001 Press Releases
Molecular Devices Introduces First IMAP® Reagent Assay Kits. December 19, 2001. Molecular Devices Introduces SpectraMax® 340PC384 Microplate Absorbance Reader. October 1, 2001. Molecular Devices Introduces Assay Kit for High Throughput Screening of Oncology Drug Targets.October 2, 2001. Molecular Devices Announces New FLIPR3 High Throughput Screening System with Expanded Capabilities. September 27, 2001. Molecular Devices Announces New CatchPoint Cyclic AMP Assay Kit. September 10, 2001. MDC Launches New Multi-Drug Resistance Assay Kit. July 23, 2001. Molecular Devices Announces Agreement to Acquire Cytion SA. July 10, 2001. Molecular Devices Introduces New 1536-Well Dispenser. June 5, 2001. Molecular Devices Introduces Three New Reagent Kits for Drug Discovery Applications. Molecular Devices Introduces Integrated Assay Assembly and Multi-Mode Detection System. May 17, 2001. Molecular Devices Introduces New Integrated Benchtop Workstation for Assay Development. March 12, 2001. Molecular Devices Receives Broad Patent Covering its SpectraMax® Microplate Readers. January 15, 2001. Molecular Devices Announces Investment in Upstate Biotechnology and Strategic Partnership for New Reagent Kits. January 8, 2001.
Molecular Devices introduces First IMAPª reagent assay kits
December 19, 2001 – Sunnyvale, California — Molecular Devices Corporation (NASDAQ:MDCC), a leader in innovative solutions for drug discovery and life sciences research, today introduced three new assay kits using Molecular Devices’ proprietary IMAP® technology. Two of the kits (SGK Assay Kit and Akt Assay Kit) incorporate kinase enzymes from Upstate Biotechnology, Inc., a leader in cell signaling research products. The third kit (IMAP Explorer) provides proprietary assay tools under Molecular Devices’ IMAP Purchase Plan.
Molecular Devices’ proprietary IMAP technology is a versatile assay format for kinase activity because it does not use specific antibodies. IMAP can be applied to almost any kinase as a mix-and-read assay. It is robust, non-radioactive and miniaturized to minimize per-well cost in high throughput screening. By including purified enzyme preparations from Upstate Biotechnology, the SGK and Akt assay kits provide complete systems for screening kinase inhibitors.
"Protein kinases have become a major target for research in cardiovascular disease, inflammation and the development of rationally-designed cancer drugs," stated Stephen Oldfield, Ph.D. and Vice President of Worldwide Marketing at Molecular Devices. "Using IMAP technology, we can screen inhibitors of almost any kinase in a high-throughput assay. The SGK and Akt assays are the first in a series of more than 10 kits being jointly developed with Upstate Biotechnology.”
Molecular Devices’ installed base of Analyst® family instruments in drug discovery laboratories worldwide is expected to provide a substantial platform for high-throughput screening using IMAP technology.
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Molecular Devices Corporation is a leading supplier of high-performance bioanalytical measurement systems that accelerate and improve drug discovery and other life sciences research. Molecular Devices’ systems and consumables enable pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to leverage advances in genomics and combinatorial chemistry by facilitating the high-throughput and cost-effective identification and evaluation of drug candidates. Molecular Devices’ solutions are based on its advanced core technologies that integrate its expertise in engineering, molecular and cell biology, and chemistry. Molecular Devices enables its customers to improve research productivity and effectiveness, which ultimately accelerates the complex process of discovering and developing new drugs.
This press release contains "forward-looking" statements, including statements related to the prospects for the assay kits. Any statements contained in this press release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Words such as "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "predicts," "expects," "estimates," "intends," "will," "continue," "may," "potential," "should," “confident” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause the results of Molecular Devices Corporation to differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements, including, among others, risks detailed from time to time in the Company's SEC reports, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2000 and its most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. Molecular Devices Corporation does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements.
Molecular Devices introduces SpectraMax® 340PC384 microplate absorbance reader
October 1, 2001 – Sunnyvale, California – Molecular Devices Corporation (NASDAQ: MDCC), a leader in innovative solutions for drug discovery and life sciences research today introduced the SpectraMax® 340PC384 microplate detection system, the latest addition to its line of absorbance readers. The SpectraMax 340PC384 has 384-well format capability, along with precision optics, flexibility, and powerful, easy-to-use SoftMax® Pro software. The addition of 384-well format capability gives scientists in academic and pharmaceutical research laboratories higher throughput and reduced reagent usage.
The SpectraMax 340PC384 is a high-performance absorbance reader for a wide variety of applications, such as ELISA and beta-galactosidase reporter gene applications. The system features a scanning monochromator to eliminate the need for filters and to aid in optimization of assays. The system also features Molecular Devices patented PathCheck® well-volume sensor (U.S. Patents 5,959,738 and 6,188,476) which measures the depth of the liquid in each microplate well. The measurement of volume in each well is used to correct the absorbance measurement of the sample to the same value obtained if the sample were measured in a standard 1 cm pathlength cuvette. Well volumes as low as 5 ml can be measured accurately. This feature can also be used to calculate concentrations without a standard curve and to expand the dynamic range to 6+ O.D.
Instrument control, as well as data collection, reduction and analysis, are managed by the newest version of Molecular Devices' proprietary software, SoftMax Pro 4.0. The software eliminates the need to export data to spreadsheet programs for analysis. SoftMax Pro 4.0 can also be integrated with widely-used robotics systems and paired with Molecular Devices liquid handling products.
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Molecular Devices Corporation is a leading supplier of high-performance bioanalytical measurement systems that accelerate and improve drug discovery and other life sciences research. The Company’s systems and consumables enable pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to leverage advances in genomics and combinatorial chemistry by facilitating the high-throughput and cost-effective identification and evaluation of drug candidates. The Company’s solutions are based on its advanced core technologies that integrate its expertise in engineering, molecular and cell biology, and chemistry. Molecular Devices enables its customers to improve research productivity and effectiveness, which ultimately accelerates the complex process of discovering and developing new drugs.
This press release contains "forward-looking" statements, including statements related to the prospects for the assay kits. Any statements contained in this press release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Words such as "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "predicts," "expects," "estimates," "intends," "will," "continue," "may," "potential," "should," “confident” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause the results of Molecular Devices Corporation to differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements, including, among others, risks detailed from time to time in the Company's SEC reports, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2000 and its most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. Molecular Devices Corporation does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements.
Molecular Devices introduces assay kit for high throughput screening of oncology drug targets
October 2, 2001 – Sunnyvale, California — Molecular Devices Corporation (NASDAQ:MDCC), a leader in innovative solutions for drug discovery and life sciences research, today announced the launch of the FLIPR® Calcium Plus™ Assay Kit. This kit extends the use of Molecular Devices’ flagship Fluorometric Imaging Plate Reader (FLIPR) system to address difficult drug targets, such as chemokine receptors, in a 384-well plate format compatible with high-throughput screening.
Cell-based screening is a preferred technique in drug discovery because it generates leads with a higher probability of progressing to clinical trials. Calcium flux assays are the most important cell-based screen and all of the major pharmaceutical companies use Molecular Devices’ FLIPR system for calcium flux assays. However, some targets, such as chemokines, do not generate reliable results in traditional assay formats. With the new Calcium Plus™ Assay Kit, the FLIPR system generates data from chemokine targets that could not previously be screened in high-throughput live-cell assays.
“Chemokine targets are particularly important in cancer research and have proved difficult to address using standard techniques,” stated Stephen Oldfield, Ph.D. and Marketing Director for Drug Discovery at Molecular Devices. “This kit provides a robust assay for chemokine targets in an HTS format—our beta sites screened targets that they couldn’t screen before.”
“FLIPR has been most heavily used in the CNS and cardiovascular areas, whereas this kit increases its utility in the oncology laboratory,” Oldfield continued. “The Calcium Plus™ Assay Kit is also formulated for Molecular Devices’ FlexStation™ system providing product solutions for assay development and hit-to-lead stages in the drug discovery pipeline.”
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Molecular Devices Corporation is a leading supplier of high-performance bioanalytical measurement systems that accelerate and improve drug discovery and other life sciences research. Molecular Devices’ systems and consumables enable pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to leverage advances in genomics and combinatorial chemistry by facilitating the high-throughput and cost-effective identification and evaluation of drug candidates. Molecular Devices’ solutions are based on its advanced core technologies that integrate its expertise in engineering, molecular and cell biology, and chemistry. Molecular Devices enables its customers to improve research productivity and effectiveness, which ultimately accelerates the complex process of discovering and developing new drugs.
This press release contains “forward-looking” statements, including statements related to the prospects for the Calcium Plus™ Assay Kit. Any statements contained in this press release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Words such as “believes,” “anticipates,” “plans,” “predicts,” “expects,” “estimates,” “intends,” “will,” “continue,” “may,” “potential,” “should," “confident” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause the results of Molecular Devices Corporation to differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements, including, among others, risks detailed from time to time in the Company's SEC reports, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2000 and its most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. Molecular Devices Corporation does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements.
Molecular Devices announces new FLIPR3 high throughput screening system with expanded capabilities
September 27, 2001 – Sunnyvale, California — Molecular Devices Corporation (NASDAQ:MDCC), a leader in innovative solutions for drug discovery and life sciences research, announces the launch of FLIPR® 3, a more sensitive, higher-throughput version of the FLIPR® Fluorometric Imaging Plate Reader system used primarily in high-throughput screening applications. FLIPR® 3 was on display from September 10-13 at the Society for Biomolecular Screening 7th Annual Conference and Exhibition in Baltimore, Maryland.
Cell-based screening is a preferred technique in drug discovery because it generates leads with a higher probability of progressing to clinical trials. All of the major pharmaceutical companies use Molecular Devices’ FLIPR® systems for cell-based screening at all throughput levels—from manual hit-to-lead studies to 24-hour robotic operation. The new FLIPR® 3 instrument provides additional capabilities — from higher sensitivity, faster operation and new liquid handling protocols to new detection modes for flash luminescence assays.
“Our customers are expressing heightened interest in cell-based assays,” stated Stephen Oldfield, Ph.D. and Marketing Director for Drug Discovery at Molecular Devices. “Our FLIPR® system is the high-throughput method of choice for cell-based assays. With FLIPR® 3, the system now enables flash and glow luminescence assay formats while improving throughput and performance with current methods.
“This new instrument platform also extends the user base for our growing family of reagent kits,” Oldfield continued. “Assay kits from Molecular Devices are now being used to screen calcium flux, membrane potential and multidrug resistance on the FLIPR® system, and for assay development using Molecular Devices’ FlexStation™ benchtop scanning fluorometer and integrated fluid transfer system.”
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Molecular Devices Corporation is a leading supplier of high-performance bioanalytical measurement systems that accelerate and improve drug discovery and other life sciences research. Molecular Devices’ systems and consumables enable pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to leverage advances in genomics and combinatorial chemistry by facilitating the high-throughput and cost-effective identification and evaluation of drug candidates. Molecular Devices’ solutions are based on its advanced core technologies that integrate its expertise in engineering, molecular and cell biology, and chemistry. Molecular Devices enables its customers to improve research productivity and effectiveness, which ultimately accelerates the complex process of discovering and developing new drugs.
This press release contains "forward-looking" statements, including statements related to the prospects for the FLIPR® 3 system. Any statements contained in this press release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Words such as "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "predicts," "expects," "estimates," "intends," "will," "continue," "may," "potential," "should," “confident” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause the results of Molecular Devices Corporation to differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements, including, among others, risks detailed from time to time in the Company's SEC reports, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2000 and its most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. Molecular Devices Corporation does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements.
Molecular Devices announces new CatchPoint Cyclic AMP assay kit
September 10, 2001 – Sunnyvale, California — Molecular Devices Corporation (NASDAQ:MDCC), a leader in innovative solutions for drug discovery and life sciences research, today announced the launch of the CatchPoint™ Cyclic AMP Assay Kit. This kit represents the first of a series of assays that are expected to provide the highest available sensitivity, pre-packaged in a 384-well plate format compatible with high-throughput screening.
Cyclic AMP is an important signaling molecule for drug discovery, but current screening tools are relatively insensitive, expensive, and often use radioisotopes for detection purposes. The CatchPoint® assay is non-radioactive and ten times more sensitive than alternative commercial assays. The assay is pre-packaged for high-throughput screening in 384-well plates, and the novel formulation generates a very robust fluorescent readout that resists interference from drug compounds. The assay protocol does not require exact temperatures or incubation times, making it well-suited for batch processing or robotic handling.
“In applications where cAMP levels are low, such as drug discovery screens for agonists of Gi-coupled GPCRs, sensitivity is important,” stated Stephen Oldfield, Ph.D. and Marketing Director for Drug Discovery at Molecular Devices. “This kit provides the highest level of sensitivity available in an HTS format. With its precise fluorescent readout, the kit leverages Molecular Devices’ significant installed base of Analyst®, Acquest™ and SpectraMax® Gemini microplate readers, providing a solution for all stages in the drug discovery pipeline.”
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Molecular Devices Corporation is a leading supplier of high-performance bioanalytical measurement systems that accelerate and improve drug discovery and other life sciences research. Molecular Devices’ systems and consumables enable pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to leverage advances in genomics and combinatorial chemistry by facilitating the high-throughput and cost-effective identification and evaluation of drug candidates. Molecular Devices’ solutions are based on its advanced core technologies that integrate its expertise in engineering, molecular and cell biology, and chemistry. Molecular Devices enables its customers to improve research productivity and effectiveness, which ultimately accelerates the complex process of discovering and developing new drugs.
This press release contains "forward-looking" statements, including statements related to the prospects for the CatchPoint‘ Cyclic AMP Assay Kit. Any statements contained in this press release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Words such as "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "predicts," "expects," "estimates," "intends," "will," "continue," "may," "potential," "should," “confident” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause the results of Molecular Devices Corporation to differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements, including, among others, risks detailed from time to time in the Company's SEC reports, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2000 and its most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q. Molecular Devices Corporation does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements.
Molecular Devices announces launch of new multidrug resistance assay Kit
July 23, 2001 – Sunnyvale, California — Molecular Devices Corporation (NASDAQ:MDCC), a leader in innovative solutions for drug discovery and life sciences research, today announced the launch of the FLIPR® Multidrug Resistance Assay Kit—its first reagent product targeted at ADME/TOX and the cancer drug discovery market. The FLIPR Multidrug Resistance Assay Kit provides a simple, high-throughput method for screening compounds for multidrug resistance (MDR) pump activity.
MDR is important in clinical oncology where over-expression of MDR pumps is characterized by drug resistance in tumor cells. The ability to screen and identify MDR pump inhibitors that can reverse or circumvent cancer drug resistance is extremely important. With the introduction of the FLIPR Multidrug Resistance Assay Kit, live-cell assays can be used to rapidly screen MDR pump inhibitors in high-throughput screening applications.
“In the CNS and cardiovascular therapeutic areas, MDC’s FLIPR system is a primary workhorse for drug screening,” stated Stephen Oldfield, Ph.D. and Marketing Director for Drug Discovery at Molecular Devices. “This product has the potential to move our FLIPR system directly into the important oncology and ADME/Tox laboratories. We have also formulated the MDR kit for assay development using MDC’s recently introduced FlexStationTM benchtop scanning fluorometer and integrated fluid transfer workstation, thus providing product solutions for more stages in the drug discovery pipeline.”
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Molecular Devices Corporation is a leading supplier of high-performance bioanalytical measurement systems that accelerate and improve drug discovery and other life sciences research. Molecular Devices’ systems and consumables enable pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to leverage advances in genomics and combinatorial chemistry by facilitating the high-throughput and cost-effective identification and evaluation of drug candidates. Molecular Devices’ instrument systems are based on its advanced core technologies that integrate its expertise in engineering, molecular and cell biology, and chemistry. Molecular Devices enables its customers to improve research productivity and effectiveness, which ultimately accelerates the complex process of discovering and developing new drugs.
This press release contains “forward-looking” statements, including statements related to potential future product development. Any statements contained in this press release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Words such as “believes,” “anticipates,” “plans,” “predicts,” “expects,” “estimates,” “intends,” “will,” “continue,” “may,” “potential,” “should,” “confident” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. The success of the acquisition and future operating results of Molecular Devices may differ materially from the results discussed or forecasted in the forward-looking statements due to factors that include, but are not limited to, risks associated with acquisitions, such as the potential inability to satisfy the closing conditions for the acquisition, potential difficulties in the assimilation of operations, strategies and technologies of the acquired company, the risk of loss of key personnel of the acquired company and diversion of management attention from other business concerns, and business risks including but, not limited to, risks detailed from time to time in the Company's SEC reports, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2000 and its most recent quarterly report on Form 10-Q. Molecular Devices Corporation does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements.
Molecular Devices announces agreement to acquire Cytion SA
July 10, 2001 – Sunnyvale, California — Molecular Devices Corporation (NASDAQ:MDCC) today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement providing for the acquisition of Cytion SA, a Swiss company, for $7.5 million in cash and 400,000 shares of Molecular Devices common stock. Under the terms of the agreement, additional cash consideration would be paid to Cytion shareholders upon the achievement of key milestones. Cytion is developing systems designed to analyze ion channels through automated patch clamping, an area of significant interest to pharmaceutical companies and other life sciences researchers.
Ion channels are one of the most important classes of therapeutic targets. Currently, some of the most valuable information on ion channel activity can be obtained only through an electrophysiological technique known as patch clamping, a painstaking procedure using live cells that requires a highly skilled scientist and typically yields less than 10 successful experiments per day. Feedback from customers in pharmaceutical and other research settings indicates that a higher throughput approach to acquiring such data would be of significant value, an observation which led to Molecular Devices’ investment last year in Essen Instruments, a developer of automated electrophysiology solutions. Continued confidence in the potential market for these products resulted in the agreement to acquire Cytion, a company whose products are highly complementary to Essen’s. Next year, Molecular Devices expects to launch automated patch clamping solutions covering a wide range of electrophysiological applications.
Commenting on the acquisition, Dr. Joseph D. Keegan, President and CEO of Molecular Devices, said, “We believe that technologies for higher throughput, information-rich ion channel testing represent an important scientific innovation and a substantial market opportunity. We are very excited about the agreement to acquire Cytion, a leading developer of automated patch clamping technology that is well-positioned to address this unmet customer need. Molecular Devices has built a strong reputation as a provider of innovative solutions for ion channel research and, through our investments in higher throughput electrophysiology systems, we intend to further strengthen our leadership position.”
Dr. Jean-Pierre Rosat, CEO of Cytion, commented, “We are delighted to join Molecular Devices, a company whose track record for successfully developing and commercializing bioanalytical systems makes them an ideal partner for bringing Cytion’s innovative products to the market. We look forward to working closely together to make higher throughput electrophysiology a reality for drug discovery and life sciences researchers.”
The transaction is expected to be accounted for as a purchase, remains subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to be completed this month.
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Molecular Devices Corporation is a leading supplier of high-performance bioanalytical measurement systems that accelerate and improve drug discovery and other life sciences research. Molecular Devices’ systems and consumables enable pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to leverage advances in genomics and combinatorial chemistry by facilitating the high-throughput and cost-effective identification and evaluation of drug candidates. Molecular Devices’ instrument systems are based on its advanced core technologies that integrate its expertise in engineering, molecular and cell biology, and chemistry. Molecular Devices enables its customers to improve research productivity and effectiveness, which ultimately accelerates the complex process of discovering and developing new drugs.
Cytion SA is a development-stage company founded in July of 2000 with investors including Banexi Venture Partners (lead investor) and Initiative Capital. Cytion focuses on developing automated electrophysiology solutions based on technology initially developed by Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and Dr. Christian Schmidt, a founder of Cytion. Cytion is located in Lausanne, Switzerland and employs approximately 20 people.
This press release contains “forward-looking” statements, including statements related to potential future product development. Any statements contained in this press release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Words such as “believes,” “anticipates,” “plans,” “predicts,” “expects,” “estimates,” “intends,” “will,” “continue,” “may,” “potential,” “should,” “confident” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. The success of the acquisition and future operating results of Molecular Devices may differ materially from the results discussed or forecasted in the forward-looking statements due to factors that include, but are not limited to, risks associated with acquisitions, such as the potential inability to satisfy the closing conditions for the acquisition, potential difficulties in the assimilation of operations, strategies and technologies of the acquired company, the risk of loss of key personnel of the acquired company and diversion of management attention from other business concerns, and business risks including but, not limited to, risks detailed from time to time in the Company's SEC reports, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2000 and its most recent quarterly report on Form 10-Q. Molecular Devices Corporation does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements.
Molecular Devices introduces new 1536-well dispenser
June 5, 2001 – Sunnyvale, California — Molecular Devices Corporation (NASDAQ: MDCC), a leader in innovative solutions for drug discovery and life sciences research, today announced the launch of the AQUAmax™ 1536 Dispenser for 1536-well format microplates. The new liquid handling system is the latest addition to the current liquid handling product line for 96- and 384-well microplates. Targeted at the high-throughput screening segment of the drug discovery market, the AQUAmax™ 1536 Dispenser offers researchers a compact, economical solution for their dispensing needs, while helping them to accelerate assay miniaturization.
During assay development and screening, reagent must be dispensed into microplate wells prior to the analysis process. One of the primary challenges in moving to the 1536-well plate format has been the absence of adequate liquid handling solutions. The AQUAmax 1536 Dispenser helps address this challenge by enabling researchers to use a smaller amount of costly reagents, in volumes of 0.5 µl to 10 µl, which can reduce assay development expense. The system precisely dispenses reagent quickly and consistently across the microplate, typically in less than 30 seconds per plate.
Included in the system is Microsoft Windows®-compatible software which allows the user to customize individualized protocols and program the system to accommodate multiple variations of 1536-well microplates.
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Molecular Devices Corporation is a leading supplier of high-performance bioanalytical measurement systems that accelerate and improve drug discovery and other life sciences research. The Company’s systems and consumables enable pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to leverage advances in genomics and combinatorial chemistry by facilitating the high-throughput and cost-effective identification and evaluation of drug candidates. The Company’s instrument systems are based on its advanced core technologies that integrate its expertise in engineering, molecular and cell biology, and chemistry. Molecular Devices enables its customers to improve research productivity and effectiveness, which ultimately accelerates the complex process of discovering and developing new drugs.
This press release contains “forward-looking” statements, including statements related to potential future revenues and earnings. Any statements contained in this press release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Words such as “believes,” “anticipates,” “plans,” “predicts,” “expects,” “estimates,” “intends,” “will,” “continue,” “may,” “potential,” “should,” “confident” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause the results of Molecular Devices Corporation to differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements, including, among others, risks detailed from time to time in the Company's SEC reports, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2000 and its most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2001. Molecular Devices Corporation does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements.
Molecular Devices introduces three new reagent kits for drug discovery applications
Molecular Devices introduces two kits for important drug discovery techniques that enable rapid assay development on the recently introduced FlexStation™ development and detection system. The FlexStation Calcium Assay Kit and FlexStation Membrane Potential Assay Kit are optimized for assay development using the FlexStation platform. Both assays are already available in a high throughput format for use on the FLIPR system.
The HEFP™ Phosphodiesterase Assay Kit is the first high-throughput, non-radioactive assay for screening phosphodiesterases, important drug targets for diseases such as erectile dysfunction and asthma. This kit is the first of a series of reagents that use a proprietary fluorescent polarization assay technology developed at Molecular Devices. As with all other HEFP™ reagents, this kit is optimized for use on Molecular Devices' Analyst®, Acquest™ and ScreenStation™ multimode detection systems.
Molecular Devices introduces integrated assay assembly and multi-mode detection system
May 17, 2001 — Sunnyvale, California — Molecular Devices Corporation (NASDAQ: MDCC), a leader in innovative solutions for drug discovery and life sciences research, today introduced a new multi-mode instrument system — ScreenStation™, targeted for use in drug discovery screening applications. The ScreenStation system integrates assay assembly and detection capabilities for popular homogeneous assay formats in the high throughput screening (HTS) environment, reducing critical assay development bottlenecks.
Combining Molecular Devices’ proprietary SmartOptics™ technology with sub-microliter liquid dispensing capability and innovative ScreenPlay™ software, ScreenStation is an easy-to-use system that enables research scientists to test tens of thousands of samples per day in a miniaturized format, without the need for specialized automation equipment and training. The ScreenStation system is available in two configurations to match customer requirements — ScreenStation HT (96- and 384-well microplates) and ScreenStation AQ (384- and 1536-well microplates).
According to John Senaldi, Vice President Marketing of Molecular Devices, “ScreenStation is the latest addition to our portfolio of high-throughput screening products that have brought innovative, high value-added capabilities to our customers. We believe this is the only system in the market that combines the benefits of multi-mode, 1536-well screening with an integrated benchtop assay assembly system.”
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Molecular Devices Corporation is a leading developer of high-performance, bioanalytical measurement systems that accelerate and improve drug discovery and other life sciences research. Molecular Devices’ systems enable pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to leverage advances in genomics and combinatorial chemistry by facilitating the high throughput and cost effective identification and evaluation of drug candidates. Molecular Devices’ instrument systems are based on its advanced core technologies which integrate its expertise in engineering, molecular and cell biology and chemistry and are fundamental tools for drug discovery and life sciences research.
This press release contains “forward-looking” statements. For this purpose, any statements contained in this press release that are not statements of historical fact, including statements with respect to potential sales and customer use of the ScreenStation, may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Words such as “believes,” “anticipates,” “plans,” “expects,” “will,” “intent” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause the results of Molecular Devices Corporation to differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements, including, among others, risks detailed from time to time in the Company’s SEC reports, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2000 and its most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2001. Molecular Devices Corporation does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements.
Molecular Devices introduces new integrated benchtop workstation for assay development
March 12, 2001 — Sunnyvale, California — Molecular Devices Corporation (NASDAQ: MDCC), a leader in innovative solutions for drug discovery and life sciences research, today announced the launch of its newest product, the FlexStation™ microplate assay development and detection system. FlexStation provides both drug discovery and life sciences researchers a powerful, flexible solution to their research challenges in an integrated benchtop workstation. The product will debut at the IBC ScreenTech Conference, March 12-16 in San Diego, California.
The FlexStation system offers flexibility to address a wide range of research applications by combining both multi-channel, plate-to-plate fluid transfer and fluorescence measurement in one system. For drug discovery applications, the system can play a key role in reducing assay development bottlenecks by providing a convenient means of developing assays for later transfer to higher throughput screening. For basic and applied research in life sciences, the flexibility of FlexStation enables scientists to develop, optimize, and run their assays on one system with the same small footprint as a standard benchtop microplate reader.
“We are pleased to bring this innovative, first-of-a-kind product to market,” stated Joseph D. Keegan, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Molecular Devices. “The FlexStation system has a unique combination of features which incorporates the best technologies from across our broad product portfolio. This new product should expand the market for our instrument systems by bringing our customers a solution that is highly complementary to two of our current best-selling products, the FLIPR ® system and the SpectraMax ® Gemini XS fluorescence microplate reader. FlexStation bridges the gap between FLIPR and Gemini XS by combining the best features of these industry leading product lines, and we believe that when used together, they could enable dramatic productivity improvements.”
“We are excited about the potential value of this product to our customers,” added John S. Senaldi, Vice President of Worldwide Marketing. “FlexStation systems could be placed in multiple therapeutic groups within a pharmaceutical company to develop calcium flux and other ion channel assays on a benchtop system for later transfer to a centralized lab to be screened using our higher throughput, automated FLIPR systems. Throughout drug discovery and life science research labs, our customers now have an even broader choice of instrument systems to choose from, enabling them to pick the best solution for each research challenge.”
Enabling the unique features and benefits of the FlexStation system are several core technologies and competencies from Molecular Devices that coalesce into a scanning fluorometer and integrated fluid transfer workstation. The dual scanning, tunable monochromators offer flexibility across a wide range of applications by allowing scientists to quickly optimize their assays without the need to seek out and replace optical filters. An eight-channel, integrated pipettor enables compound transfer from one microplate to another across a whole column of a 96-well plate. The instrument can detect rapid changes in fluorescence of dye-loaded live cells as they respond to transferred compounds, enabling important applications such as fast ion channel assays. Our SoftMax ® Pro software enables powerful, flexible instrument control and experiment setup, with the advanced data analysis and reduction capabilities that customers anticipate with all Molecular Devices detection systems. Finally, the application of the company’s platform development expertise enabled all of these features to be combined into a workstation that can fit on virtually any lab bench.
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Molecular Devices Corporation is a leading developer of high-performance, bioanalytical measurement systems that accelerate and improve drug discovery and other life sciences research. Molecular Devices’ systems enable pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to leverage advances in genomics and combinatorial chemistry by facilitating the high throughput and cost effective identification and evaluation of drug candidates. Molecular Devices’ instrument systems are based on its advanced core technologies which integrate its expertise in engineering, molecular and cell biology and chemistry and are fundamental tools for drug discovery and life sciences research.
This press release contains “forward-looking” statements. For this purpose, any statements contained in this press release that are not statements of historical fact, including statements with respect to potential sales and customer use of the FlexStation, may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Words such as “believes,” “anticipates,” “plans,” “expects,” “will,” “intent” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause the results of Molecular Devices Corporation to differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements, including, among others, risks detailed from time to time in the Company’s SEC reports, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1999, its most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2000 and its Registration Statement on Form S-4, as amended as of July 17, 2000, and definitive proxy statement filed in connection with the acquisition of LJL BioSystems, Inc.
Molecular Devices receives broad patent covering its SpectraMax® microplate readers
Release Monday, January 15, 2001
Sunnyvale, California — Molecular Devices Corporation (NASDAQ: MDCC) announced that it has been issued U.S. Patent # 6,151,111. The patent covers key features of its market leading line of microplate reader systems, including the SpectraMax PLUS 384 , SpectraMax 190, SpectraMax 340PC, and VERSAmax™ systems. These products, together with Molecular Devices' SoftMax ® Pro software, are market leaders in the rapidly growing market of laboratory automation tools for drug discovery and life science research.
“We are very pleased to have this patent issued, as we believe it covers the critical combination of features that make these products so successful,” stated Joseph D. Keegan, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Molecular Devices. “In addition, the award of the patent demonstrates our strong commitment to developing innovative, first-of-a-kind products.”
Using the covered microplate reader systems, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and academic research scientists can analyze up to 384 samples in the UV, visible, and near-infrared spectrum in as little as 16 seconds with no compromise on performance or capabilities. Common biological applications include automated ELISA, protein, DNA, endotoxin, and enzyme assays.
The patent protects the unmatched flexibility and sensitivity of the products, due to the combination of a very bright flashlamp and tunable monochromators for microplate spectrophotometry. The monochromator enables simple assay optimization and eliminates the need to replace filters, as is required in traditional readers.
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Molecular Devices Corporation is a leading developer of high-performance, bioanalytical measurement systems that accelerate and improve drug discovery and other life sciences research. Molecular Devices’ systems enable pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to leverage advances in genomics and combinatorial chemistry by facilitating the high throughput and cost effective identification and evaluation of drug candidates. Molecular Devices’ instrument systems are based on its advanced core technologies which integrate its expertise in engineering, molecular and cell biology and chemistry and are fundamental tools for drug discovery and life sciences research.
This press release contains “forward-looking” statements. For this purpose, any statements contained in this press release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Words such as “believes,” “anticipates,” “plans,” “expects,” “will,” “intent” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause the results of Molecular Devices Corporation to differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements, including, among others, risks detailed from time to time in the Company’s SEC reports, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1999, its most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2000 and its Registration Statement on Form S-4, as amended as of July 17, 2000, and definitive proxy statement filed in connection with the acquisition of LJL BioSystems, Inc.
Molecular Devices announces investment in Upstate Biotechnology and strategic partnership for new reagent kits
Release Monday, January 8, 2001 at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time
Sunnyvale, California — Molecular Devices Corporation (Nasdaq: MDCC) today announced that it has acquired an approximate 20% equity interest in Argonex, Inc., the parent company of Upstate Biotechnology, Inc. and Argonex Discovery, Ltd., for $10 million in cash. The companies also announced the launch of a ten-year strategic partnership to provide new consumable reagent kits to the high throughput screening market. Under the partnership agreement, Molecular Devices will be the exclusive distributor of all kits co-developed by Argonex and Molecular Devices, which will be optimized to perform on Molecular Devices’ drug discovery instrumentation platforms. As part of this investment, Joseph D. Keegan, Ph.D., President and CEO of Molecular Devices, will join the Board of Directors of Argonex.
Upstate Biotechnology is a leading supplier of reagents to the drug discovery and life sciences research markets, with particular strength in “cell-signaling” reagents such as kinases. Kinase assays are currently among the most frequently-performed tests in high throughput screening laboratories, and demand for these assays is expected to grow due to the central role kinases play in key cellular functions. Understanding the roles of kinases and other proteins is the goal of proteomics, and is a critical step in translating the information provided by genomics into new pharmaceutical products. The focus of the strategic partnership between Molecular Devices and Argonex is the development and commercialization of products which will allow many significant kinase assays to be performed at high throughput rates.
Dr. Keegan commented, “We are excited about our long-term strategic partnership with Argonex, both as an investor and as a collaborator on a significant new line of high throughput screening products. It is Molecular Devices’ strategic intent to become a solution provider for drug discovery, and a strong relationship with a leading reagent company is an important step toward achieving this vision. Upstate Biotechnology’s products are widely used and well-regarded in the drug discovery and life sciences research markets and, together with Molecular Devices’ instruments, we can offer customers a comprehensive, high-quality set of discovery tools. Additionally, by combining the complementary market expertise of our companies, we will enhance our ability to develop innovative products that address significant new customer applications.”
Sheridan Snyder, Chairman and CEO of Argonex, commented, “We are very pleased to have Molecular Devices as a significant shareholder in our company and to have Dr. Keegan join our Board of Directors. This investment, in addition to the strategic commitment both companies have made to joint product development, will strengthen and broaden both companies’ reach into the drug discovery marketplace. We look forward to working with Molecular Devices to provide customers with novel and comprehensive solutions for high throughput screening.”
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Molecular Devices Corporation is a leading developer of high-performance, bioanalytical measurement systems that accelerate and improve drug discovery and other life sciences research. Molecular Devices’ systems enable pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to leverage advances in genomics and combinatorial chemistry by facilitating the high throughput and cost effective identification and evaluation of drug candidates. Molecular Devices’ instrument systems are based on its advanced core technologies which integrate its expertise in engineering, molecular and cell biology and chemistry and are fundamental tools for drug discovery and life sciences research.
Argonex, Incorporated sells worldwide more than 1000 cell signaling reagent products to academic, government and industrial laboratories through its wholly owned subsidiary Upstate Biotechnology, Inc., headquartered in Lake Placid, New York. The majority of Upstate products are enzymes, growth factors and antibodies useful in the study of important cellular regulation pathways. Argonex also provides reagents for high throughput screening through its wholly owned subsidiary Argonex Discovery, Ltd., based in Dundee, Scotland.
This press release contains “forward-looking” statements. For this purpose, any statements contained in this press release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Words such as “believes,” “anticipates,” “plans,” “expects,” “will,” “intent” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause the results of Molecular Devices Corporation to differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements, including, among others, risks detailed from time to time in the Company’s SEC reports, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 1999, its most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2000 and its Registration Statement on Form S-4, as amended as of July 17, 2000, and definitive proxy statement filed in connection with the acquisition of LJL BioSystems, Inc.
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