2002 Press Releases
- Molecular Devices announces the introduction of eight new assay kits. December 4, 2002.
- Molecular Devices announces US patent for reagent kit technology. September 30, 2002.
- Molecular Devices introduces IonWorks™ HT system for high-throughput ion channel screening. September 18, 2002.
- MDC launches SoftMax Pro® Enterprise software tools for FDA 21 CFR Part 11 compliance. August 15, 2002.
- Molecular Devices is pleased to announce the newest issue of our NowScreening newsletter.
- Molecular Devices announces the introduction of two next-generation microplate readers. June 27, 2002.
- Molecular Devices announces the introduction of eight new assay kits. June 27, 2002.
- Molecular Devices announces acquisition of Universal Imaging Corporation. June 3, 2002.
- Molecular Devices Introduces New 96/384-Well Dispenser. May 9, 2002.
- Molecular Devices Corporation Disputes Caliper Technologies Patent Infringement Claims and Stands Firmly Behind its IMAP® Products. April 29, 2002.
- Molecular Devices Announces Additional Kinase Assay Kits Using IMAP® Technology. April 2, 2002.
Molecular Devices announces the introduction of eight new assay kits
Sunnyvale, Calif., December 4, 2002 — Molecular Devices Corporation (NASDAQ:MDCC), a leader in innovative solutions for drug discovery and life sciences research, today announced the launch of seven new assay kits using its proprietary IMAP® technology and one new kit in the proprietary CatchPoint® format. The IMAP kits—Blk, Lyn, Syk, CHK1, CHK2, ROCK-II and PTP1B Assay Kits—all incorporate enzymes from Upstate Biotechnology, a leader in signal transduction products. The CatchPoint Tyrosine Kinase Assay Kits are generic plate-based assays used to measure the activity of various tyrosine kinases in the presence of putative drug compounds.
Molecular Devices’ IMAP technology is rapidly becoming an established assay format for kinase and phosphatase activity. This series of seven new assays further extends the IMAP technology platform into such crucial areas as inflammation, oncology and allergic diseases. Molecular Devices now offers a total of seventeen specific IMAP kits as well as an IMAP Purchase Plan to provide assay components to companies investigating proprietary kinases and phosphatases. The CatchPoint Tyrosine Kinase Assay Kit was developed as a non-specific screening tool for use with various tyrosine kinases as a secondary assay to further characterize initial HTS results.
“Kinases and phosphatases are screened at all major pharmaceutical companies, and each additional kit in our IMAP portfolio builds more utility onto this technology platform. Our customers have seven more reasons to adopt IMAP,” stated Stephen Oldfield, Ph.D. and Vice President of Worldwide Marketing at Molecular Devices. “While IMAP provides a fluorescence polarization signal, CatchPoint modulates fluorescence intensity. These diverse fluorescent readout modes leverage Molecular Devices’ significant installed base of Analyst and Gemini microplate readers, providing solutions for thousands of researchers at all stages in the drug development pipeline.”
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About Molecular Devices Corporation
Molecular Devices Corporation is a leading developer 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 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 anticipated benefits of our new products. 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," 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, 2001 and its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2002. Molecular Devices Corporation does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements.
Molecular Devices announces US patent for reagent kit technology
Sunnyvale, Calif., September 30, 2002 – Molecular Devices Corporation (Nasdaq: MDCC) today announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued patent number 6,420,183 to Bayer AG for claims relating to “Masking Background Fluorescence and Luminescence in Optical Analysis of Biomedical Assays.” Under an agreement announced earlier this year, Bayer has granted Molecular Devices exclusive rights to commercialize this technology for drug discovery and life sciences research.
Molecular Devices is a leader in cell-based screening assays, which are preferred techniques in drug discovery because they identify drug candidates with a higher probability of progressing to clinical trials. However, most cellular assay procedures involve the washing of cells to reduce background fluorescence, a step that is cumbersome, time consuming and reduces data quality. By masking background fluorescence as described in Bayer’s patent, this wash step can be skipped, resulting in cells that are more responsive and screening that is faster and more easily automated.
Molecular Devices exclusively offers this technology to customers through its reagent kits for measuring calcium flux and membrane potential using both FLIPR® and FlexStation™ systems. The fluorescence masking technology provides significant improvements in data quality, convenience and efficiency, enabling researchers to increase their throughput in screening applications.
“We are very pleased that this patent has been issued to Bayer,” stated Stephen Oldfield, Ph.D., and Vice President of Marketing at Molecular Devices. “Reagent kits using this technology maintain our industry-leading position in cell-based assay instruments and reagents, supporting an installed base of over 500 FLIPR® and FlexStation™ systems. In addition, the patented technology can be readily applied to Molecular Devices’ new Discovery-1, Gemini™ EM and Analyst GT systems for a range of screening assays providing both cellular and sub-cellular data.”
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About Molecular Devices Corporation
Molecular Devices Corporation is a leading developer 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 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. Further information can be found at the company’s website (www.moleculardevices.com).
About Bayer AG
Bayer is an international, research-based group with major businesses in health care, crop protection, polymers and specialty chemicals. For 2001, the group recorded sales of EUR 30.3 billion and a group net profit of EUR 965 million. The total number of employees worldwide at the end of 2001 amounted to about 117,000. Capital expenditures totaled EUR 2.6 billion in 2001 and EUR 2.6 billion were invested in research and development.
This press release contains "forward-looking" statements, including statements related to the anticipated benefits of our new products. 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," 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, 2001 and its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2002. Molecular Devices Corporation does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements.
Molecular Devices introduces IonWorks™ HT system for high throughput ion channel screening.
Sunnyvale, Calif., September 18, 2002 – Molecular Devices Corporation (Nasdaq: MDCC) today announced the introduction of IonWorks HT automated patch clamp system for ion channel screening in drug discovery. IonWorks HT is a complete turnkey system that benefits drug discovery researchers by increasing throughput—to up to 3,000 patches per day—and drastically reducing hands-on time. Molecular Devices will provide demonstrations of this new system in its booth at the Society for Biomolecular Screening Annual Conference and Exhibition, September 23-26, 2002 in The Hague, Netherlands.
Commenting on the launch of the IonWorks HT system, John Senaldi, Vice President and General Manager of IonWorks at Molecular Devices, noted, “Molecular Devices has a history of providing innovative solutions for drug discovery and life sciences research. With our new IonWorks HT system, we introduce an enabling alternative to the current gold-standard of electrophysiology screening. This new system overcomes many of the hurdles associated with traditional patch clamp methods by dramatically reducing the time and labor required to perform ion channel assays. The IonWorks HT system is designed to allow researchers to obtain reliable, reproducible results with considerably less effort.” Senaldi further stated, “The IonWorks HT system adds to Molecular Devices’ growing portfolio of tools that enable both high-content and high-throughput solutions for drug discovery research.”
The IonWorks HT system performs whole-cell patch clamping on multiple cells in parallel and greatly increases throughput over existing high-information content methods. The system quickly loads the wells and achieves multiple seals at a time. During processing, the system measures whole-cell current from multiple cells simultaneously using the multi-channel (48) voltage clamp amplifier. The system aspirates from standard 96- and 384-well microplate formats and dispenses reagents in parallel with a 12-channel pipettor. With the IonWorks HT system, it is easy to set up and run experiments. Typical experiments measure an entire plate in about 30 minutes—translating into overall throughput of up to 3,000 patches per day.
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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. 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 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 anticipated benefits of our new products. 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," 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, 2001 and its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2002. Molecular Devices Corporation does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements.
Molecular Devices launches SoftMax Pro® Enterprise software tools for FDA 21 CFR Part 11 compliance
August 15, 2002 – Sunnyvale, California – Molecular Devices Corporation (NASDAQ: MDCC), a leader in innovative solutions for drug discovery and life sciences research, today announced the launch of SoftMax® Pro Enterprise software. This new software provides tools necessary for Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 21 CFR Part 11 compliance, and is available for Molecular Devices’ benchtop microplate readers. SoftMax Pro software continues to be the industry standard for its flexibility and robust data analysis capabilities critical to researchers in R&D, drug manufacturing, quality control and analysis in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries.
Commenting on the launch of SoftMax Pro Enterprise, Stephen Oldfield, Ph.D., Vice President of Marketing at Molecular Devices, noted, “We are pleased to be the only provider of CFR Part 11 compliance tools in the microplate reader market. SoftMax Pro Enterprise will not only support our installed base of over 17,000 instruments, but we anticipate that the availability of SoftMax Pro Enterprise will stimulate new instrument sales for FDA 21 CFR-compliant applications.”
Since its introduction, SoftMax Pro has set the standard for data analysis software in the microplate reader industry and continues to be a major benefit of Molecular Devices’ microplate readers. SoftMax Pro Enterprise extends these capabilities by enabling site management through a centralized administrator, which provides electronic signature, full audit trails and other requirements needed for FDA 21 CFR Part 11 compliance. SoftMax Pro Enterprise software works with Molecular Devices’ benchtop readers, including SpectraMax® absorbance readers, Gemini XS and Gemini EM fluorescence readers and FlexStation™.
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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. 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 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 SoftMax Pro Enterprise software and its potential to stimulate new instrument sales. 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," 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, 2001 and its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2002. Molecular Devices Corporation does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements.
Molecular Devices announces the introduction of two next-generation microplate readers
June 27, 2002 – Sunnyvale, California – Molecular Devices Corporation (NASDAQ: MDCC), today announced the introduction of two new microplate readers, Analys™ GT and Gemini EM, for drug discovery and life science research applications. The Analyst GT is the newest addition to the industry-leading Analyst family of multi-mode plate readers and offers drug discovery researchers significant improvements in read-time and sensitivity in every plate format and every detection mode. The Gemini EM adds capabilities to the Gemini Fluorescence Plate Reader that allows it to address the fast growing area of cell-based applications.
Commenting on the launch of these two products, Stephen Oldfield, Ph.D., Vice President of Marketing at Molecular Devices, noted, “The new GT and EM systems build on the success of our established Analyst and Gemini families. The thousands of researchers currently using our products will recognize the familiar, robust instrument platforms and benefit from the new performance and functionality in both drug discovery and life science research.”
The Analyst family of instruments set the performance standard for multimode systems at introduction in 1997, and in 1998 with the first commercially available 1536 multimode reader. The Analyst GT builds on that reputation with significantly faster read speeds for all plate formats. Previously, systems that offered 96 through 1536 well compatibility sacrificed read time or sensitivity to read high-density 1536 well plates. Analyst GT improves on existing 1536-well point reading systems by increasing read speed without compromising signal-to-noise and signal-to-background.
The new Gemini EM fluorescence microplate reader system offers top and bottom read and well scanning capability to life science researchers. The ability to tune wavelengths using the system’s dual monochromators enables customers to quickly optimize assays, a feature that has driven the success of the original Gemini product since its introduction in September of 1998. Scientists can now perform more complex, cell-based assays, which are increasingly used to understand the underlying nature of disease, and develop appropriate therapies.
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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. 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 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 anticipated benefits of our new products. 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," 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, 2001 and its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2002. Molecular Devices Corporation does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements.
Molecular Devices Announces the introduction of eight new assay kits
June 27, 2002 – Sunnyvale, California – Molecular Devices Corporation (NASDAQ: MDCC), a leader in innovative solutions for drug discovery and life sciences research, today announced the launch of six new assay kits using its proprietary IMAP® technology and two new kits in the proprietary CatchPoint® format. The IMAP kits—PRAK, MSK1, Src, Fyn, Lck and PP2A Assay Kits—all incorporate enzymes from Upstate Biotechnology, a leader in signal transduction products. The CatchPoint cGMP Assay Kits are plate-based assays used to measure cGMP, an important cell signaling molecule.
Molecular Devices’ IMAP technology is rapidly becoming an established assay format for kinase activity because it does not use specific antibodies. These new assay kits further extend the technology platform in HTS with the same ease of miniaturization and low cost-per-well. Molecular Devices now offers eleven specific IMAP kits as well as an IMAP Purchase Plan to provide components to companies assaying proprietary kinases. The CatchPoint cGMP Assay Kit is the second product in a family which is preformatted in 384-well plates, the most popular format for drug discovery. For the important research market, a CatchPoint cGMP Assay Kit is also formatted in 96-well plates.
“Phosphatases and kinases are screened at all major pharmaceutical companies and each additional kit in our IMAP portfolio builds more utility onto this technology platform. Our customers have six more reasons to adopt IMAP,” stated Stephen Oldfield, Ph.D. and Vice President of Worldwide Marketing at Molecular Devices. “While IMAP provides a fluorescence polarization signal, CatchPoint modulates fluorescence intensity. These diverse fluorescent readout modes leverage Molecular Devices’ significant installed base of Analyst and Gemini microplate readers, providing solutions for thousands of researchers at all stages in the drug development pipeline.”
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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. 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 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 success of the acquisition and 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," "expects," "will," 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 potential difficulties in the assimilation of operations, strategies, technologies and products of the acquired company, the risk of loss of key personnel of the acquired company and the risk of diversion of management attention from other business concerns, and general business risks 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, 2001 and its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2002. Molecular Devices Corporation does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements.
Molecular Devices announces acquisition of Universal Imaging Corporation
June 3, 2002 – Molecular Devices Corporation (Nasdaq: MDCC) today announced that it has acquired Universal Imaging Corporation (UIC), a leading provider of systems for automated cellular imaging and screening. The acquisition expands Molecular Devices’ portfolio of novel tools for cell analysis to include MetaMorph™, advanced cellular imaging software widely used in life sciences research, and the innovative Discovery-1 screening system for drug discovery.
Established in 1983, UIC is a pioneer in the field of cellular and sub-cellular imaging, providing comprehensive solutions to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, academic and life sciences research markets. UIC achieved revenues of $9.6 million in 2001 and employs 52 people. The company’s Meta Imaging Series™ suite of software products, with an installed base of 3,500 users in 2,000 institutions, is an industry-leading technology for the capture and analysis of cellular images. The Discovery-1 system builds upon UIC’s unrivaled expertise in this area to address a market need for robust, automated drug discovery tools that provide detailed information on cellular and sub-cellular events. Discovery-1 combines the power and versatility of MetaMorph™ with microplate-based instrumentation to provide the rapid capture and analysis of cell-based data demanded by drug discovery researchers.
Cellular assays are the basis of a large and growing percentage of the research activity conducted by pharmaceutical, biotechnology and other life sciences organizations. Because they represent actual physiological conditions better than other types of tests, cell-based assays yield very valuable information, but they have traditionally been relatively laborious to perform. In recent years, technological innovations such as Molecular Devices’ FLIPR® system have revolutionized drug discovery by making the process of testing populations of cells much easier and faster. The Discovery-1 system from Universal Imaging Corporation enables a variety of assays by acquiring information on the responses of individual cells within a cell population in an automated, high-throughput mode. The cellular and sub-cellular information provided by Discovery-1 is useful for a range of screening assays that are complementary to those performed by FLIPR®.
Commenting on the acquisition, Dr. Joseph Keegan, President and CEO of Molecular Devices, said, “We are very excited about our acquisition of Universal Imaging Corporation, a company with a great track record of developing innovative technology for cell imaging and analysis. We are combining two well-established companies with highly complementary technologies, and the result will be very beneficial for customers of both Molecular Devices and UIC. This acquisition strengthens Molecular Devices’ position as a leading provider of solutions for cell-based assays and propels us into the exciting, fast-growing area of cellular and sub-cellular imaging. Our combined product portfolio will be unmatched in meeting the demands of customers for automated, advanced information content solutions.”
Dr. Jeff Stuckey, CEO of Universal Imaging, added, “We are delighted to join Molecular Devices, a company whose reputation and market presence will broaden the reach of our portfolio of leading-edge imaging products. In particular, we believe that Molecular Devices’ expertise in drug discovery will greatly accelerate the success that Universal Imaging has already achieved with our Discovery-1 screening system.”
Molecular Devices paid $22 million in cash to acquire all of the outstanding capital stock of Universal Imaging. Molecular Devices expects that UIC will contribute an estimated $6-7 million in revenue for the remainder of 2002. UIC’s gross margins are consistent with Molecular Devices’ and UIC is profitable on an operating basis. Molecular Devices expects the transaction to have no impact on previous earnings per share guidance for 2002 and to be accretive to earnings per share in 2003. Molecular Devices expects to provide additional information related to its anticipated 2003 financial results during its next quarterly conference call.
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About Molecular Devices Corporation
Molecular Devices Corporation is a leading developer 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 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.
About Universal Imaging Corporation
Universal Imaging Corporation is based in Downingtown, PA and is the maker of the Meta Imaging Series™ suite of software products and the Discovery-1 screening system. Since 1983, UIC has provided comprehensive solutions to the academic, research and pharmaceutical drug discovery markets enabling both cell based and sub-cellular assays. The company provides a complete range of software and hardware products including MetaMorph™, MetaFluor®, the Discovery-1 and the Multi-Dimensional Imager™. More information about Universal Imaging Corporation can be found at www.universal-imaging.com.
This press release contains "forward-looking" statements, including statements related to the success of the acquisition and 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," "expects," "will," 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 potential difficulties in the assimilation of operations, strategies, technologies and products of the acquired company, the risk of loss of key personnel of the acquired company and the risk of diversion of management attention from other business concerns, and general business risks 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, 2001 and its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2002. Molecular Devices Corporation does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements.
Molecular Devices introduces new 96/384-well dispenser
May 9, 2002 – Sunnyvale, California – Molecular Devices Corporation (NASDAQ: MDCC), a leader in innovative solutions for drug discovery and life sciences research, recently announced the launch of the AquaMax™ 96/384 Dispenser for 96- and 384-well format microplates. This new liquid handling system is the latest addition to its AquaMax product line.
Targeted at the drug discovery market, the AquaMax 96/384 Dispenser was developed to provide a fast, easy-to-use, reliable system to be used prior to the assay and analysis process. It is ideal for a variety of applications dispensing solutions, beads and cells. The system addresses the challenge of precise dispensing of volumes down to 0.5 µL into 384-well microplates. Throughput, less than 30 seconds per plate, significantly improves productivity.
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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 product 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 .
Molecular Devices Corporation disputes Caliper Technologies patent infringement claims and stands firmly behind its IMAPª products
April 29, 2002 – Sunnyvale, California – Molecular Devices Corporation was recently served with a patent infringement suit by Caliper Technologies Corporation. The suit alleges Molecular Devices IMAP® Assay products infringe U.S. Patent 6,287,774. Molecular Devices strongly disputes that these products infringe the Caliper patent and will vigorously defend the suit. Molecular Devices has and will continue to stand behind its proprietary IMAP® Assay product line.
Molecular Devices announces additional kinase assay kits using IMAP® Technology
April 2, 2002 – Sunnyvale, California – Molecular Devices Corporation (NASDAQ: MDCC), a leader in innovative solutions for drug discovery and life sciences research, today announced the launch of two new assay kits using its proprietary IMAP® technology. The kits — the p38 Assay Kit and MAPKAP K2 Assay Kit — incorporate kinase enzymes from Upstate Biotechnology, the leader in signal transduction. Both p38 and MAPKAP K2 are important targets in the development of new therapies for cancer and arthritis.
Proprietary IMAP technology developed at Molecular Devices provides a versatile assay format for kinase activity because it does not use specific antibodies. The ease of miniaturization, breadth of application and low cost-per-well make this technology ideal — even for companies screening libraries of a million of compounds or more. Molecular Devices now offers four specific IMAP kits with kinase enzymes from Upstate Biotechnology and the IMAP Purchase Plan to provide components to companies assaying proprietary kinases.
“Protein kinases are a screening focus at all major pharmaceutical companies because they represent very specific drug targets, ” stated Stephen J. Oldfield, Ph.D. and Vice President of Worldwide Marketing at Molecular Devices. "IMAP technology screens inhibitors of almost any kinase in a non-radioactive mix-and read procedure. Every additional kinase kit in our portfolio offers an optimized assay for a key target, building more utility onto a common technology platform.”
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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. The Company’s systems and consumables enable pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to leverage advances in genomics, proteomics and combinatorial chemistry by facilitating the high-throughput and cost-effective identification and evaluation of drug candidates. The Company’s instrument 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. Further information can be found at the company’s website (www.moleculardevices.com).
This press release contains "forward-looking" statements. 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," 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, 2001. Molecular Devices Corporation does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements.
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