2003 Press Releases
Molecular Devices Announces the Introduction of the IMAP® Progressive Binding System and Nine New Substrates
Sunnyvale, Calif., November 6, 2003 – Molecular Devices Corporation (Nasdaq: MDCC), a leader in innovative solutions for drug discovery and life sciences research, today announced the launch of the most recent additions to its IMAP® platform, the IMAP Progressive Binding System and nine new peptide substrates. With the IMAP Progressive Binding System, researchers can achieve enhanced performance for virtually all kinases, phosphatases and phosphodiesterases by addressing key parameters, such as substrate limitations, ATP concentrations and background levels. The nine new peptides added to Molecular Devices’ growing line of validated peptides further support IMAP as a complete systems approach for assaying enzyme activity.
Molecular Devices’ IMAP technology is rapidly becoming the established assay format to screen for kinase and phosphatase activity because it does not rely on radioactivity or antibodies. The new binding system and growing list of validated substrates further enable the end user to develop assays for uncommon or proprietary enzymes with the same ease of miniaturization and low cost-per-well that IMAP users have come to expect.
“Kinases and phosphatases are screened at all major pharmaceutical companies, and we believe that IMAP is becoming the preferred screening platform. Molecular Devices will continue to add key components that provide our customers with the flexibility required to address this important yet diverse class of drug targets,“ stated Stephen Oldfield, Ph.D. and Vice President of Worldwide Marketing at Molecular Devices. “By exploiting the ratiometric format inherent in fluorescence polarization, IMAP leverages Molecular Devices’ line of Analyst“ instruments which are known for setting industry standards in FP detection.”
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About Molecular Devices Corporation
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, proteomics 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 IMAP Progressive Binding System and peptide substrates. 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, 2002 and its quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended September 30, 2003. Molecular Devices Corporation does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements.
Molecular Devices Introduces Multi-Detection System with Dual-Mode Cuvette Port
Sunnyvale, Calif., August 11, 2003 – Molecular Devices Corporation (Nasdaq: MDCC)today announced the introduction of SpectraMax® M2, the first dual-monochromator, multi-detection microplate reader with dual-mode cuvette port for fluorescence and absorbance assays. The dual-mode cuvette port and multi-detection microplate reading capability will allow life science researchers to replace multiple instruments currently used for spectrophotometry and spectrofluorometry with one compact, high-performance system.
The SpectraMax M2, which debuts today at the Drug Discovery Technology 2003 Conference & Exhibition in Boston, is the only multi-detection system to feature a dual-mode cuvette port and a single-read command capability for experiments requiring both absorbance and fluorescence microplate and cuvette detection in the same assay. The system reads endpoint, kinetic, spectrum and well-area scanning assays, such as ELISAs, nucleic acid, protein, enzymatic, cell viability and proliferation assays, and other homogeneous and heterogeneous microplate assays in 6- through 384-well formats. With SpectraMax M2 and Molecular Devices’ patented PathCheck™ Sensor—the only technology available that measures the optical pathlength of samples in a microplate—researchers can realize faster, more precise results by easily converting and optimizing very-low-throughput benchtop assays for medium- to high-throughput.
Molecular Devices also introduces the first fluorescence validation test plate, SpectraTest™ FL1, which allows researchers to validate and standardize fluorescence microplate assays as required by GLP/GMP standards. The SpectraTest FL1 provides instrument validation for fluorescence similar to Molecular Devices’ SpectraTest validation package used for absorbance and long considered the gold-standard by pharmaceutical and biotechnology laboratories.
Commenting on the launch of the products, Stephen J. Oldfield, Ph.D., Molecular Devices’ Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, stated, “The SpectraMax M2 optical performance for absorbance and fluorescence detection modes is comparable to our dedicated, top-of-the-line SpectraMax® Plus384 spectrophotometer and Gemini XS spectrofluorometer. We expect this instrument to help our customers increase productivity and free up valuable benchtop space by giving them multiple detection modes in one powerful, space-saving instrument.” He further stated, “The lack of a gold-standard fluorescence validation test method for microplate spectrofluorometry has limited the migration of fluorescence assays from primary and secondary screening stages to the pre-clinical testing, QC and manufacturing stages in the drug discovery process. The introduction of the SpectraTest FL1 validation test plate, together with the SpectraMax M2, allows the validation of sensitive fluorescence assays so they can be used in a regulated environment.”
The SpectraMax M2 system utilizes Molecular Devices’ industry-leading SoftMax“ Pro software, which provides data acquisition, analysis and management capabilities, as well as optional FDA 21 CFR Part 11 tools.
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About Molecular Devices Corporation
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, proteomics 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 potential customer use of SpectraMax® M2 and SpectraTest™ FL1. 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, 2002 and its quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2003. Molecular Devices Corporation does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements.
Molecular Devices Announces the Introduction of Three New Assay Kits
Sunnyvale, Calif., June 17, 2003 – 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 and one new kit in the proprietary CatchPoint® format. The IMAP kits—Abl and IKKb Assay Kits—all incorporate enzymes from Upstate Biotechnology, a leader in signal transduction products. Abl is a tyrosine kinase proto-oncogene involved in cell differentiation, division, and adhesion and is the target for the drug Gleevec®. IKKb is a serine/threonine kinase involved in inflammation pathways. The CatchPoint cAMP 96-well Assay Kit continues our line of CatchPoint products that addresses both the High Throughput Screening (HTS) market as well as the basic research market.
Molecular Devices’ IMAP technology is rapidly becoming the established assay format for kinase and phosphatase activity because it does not rely on radioactivity or 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 nineteen specific IMAP kits as examples of the IMAP platform’s capability. Additionally, uncommon or proprietary enzymes are simple to substitute into the IMAP platform using the Screening Express or IMAP Purchase Plan and our growing list of pre-validated substrates. The CatchPoint 96-well cAMP Assay Kit is the fifth product in a family that is preformatted in 96- or 384-well plates.
“Phosphatases and kinases are screened at all major pharmaceutical companies. The tyrosine kinase, Abl, and the serine/threonine kinase, IKKb, further demonstrate the utility of the IMAP technology platform across a broad spectrum of kinase families,” 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 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, proteomics 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 IMAP kits—Abl and IKKb 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," "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, 2002, and its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2003. Molecular Devices Corporation does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements.
Molecular Devices Announces Automation Compatibility of Next-Generation Microplate Readers with Zymark iLink Software and Twister II Robot
Sunnyvale, CA., April 28, 2003 — Molecular Devices Corporation (NASDAQ:MDCC) today announced the addition of Zymark’s iLink™ compatibility for Molecular Devices’ Analyst® GT and Gemini EM, two next-generation microplate readers used in drug discovery and life science research applications.
Analyst GT Multimode Reader is the newest addition to the industry-leading Analyst family and offers high-throughput screening laboratories significant improvements in read-time and sensitivity in every plate format and every detection mode. Gemini EM Fluorescence Microplate Reader adds many capabilities to the Gemini XS, allowing it to address the fast-growing area of cell-based fluorescence applications.
Stephen Oldfield, Ph.D., Vice President of Marketing at Molecular Devices, noted “The new Analyst GT and Gemini EM systems build on the success of our established Analyst and Gemini families. GT utilizes a new activeXsuite software and EM a new version of SoftMax® Pro which have aided Zymark in rapidly integrating on their robotic systems using their iLink software.”
Zymark’s iLink is a new “point and shoot” software interface between laboratory instruments and Zymark’s Twister“ II robot which dramatically simplifies running automated instrument protocols. With this new software, any instrument that uses microplates can have automated stacking capability added to it by connecting the Twister II. The iLink software extends the power of automation to individual instruments, such as readers and washers, with the flexibility to pass plates through several instruments, building to a powerful, integrated system.
Zymark’s Twister II is the standard in the industry for handling microplates. Whether it is used as a stand-alone stacker or as the hub of a mini-system, Twister II can move up to 400 plates with a telescoping arm and rotating wrist for flexibility to position plates in virtually all readers, washers, and liquid handlers. The Twister II delivers more efficient benchtop storage of plates than any other laboratory microplate handler does.
Commenting on the addition of these two new products, Mark Roskey, Ph.D., Executive Vice President of Marketing at Zymark Corporation, noted, “iLink brings the power of automation into the hands of the everyday scientist. Researcher’s using laboratory instruments manually, can finally be free of the task of feeding microplates to instrumentation, and become an even more highly valued resource for their company.”
The new software interfaces are being added to an already expansive library of Molecular Devices instruments that are compatible with Zymark’s iLink software and Twister II robot. Molecular Devices SpectraMax® Series, Gemini XS, and Analyst HT readers, together with the Embla washer and AquaMax™ dispenser all have existing standard interfaces with iLink.
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About Molecular Devices Corporation
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, proteomics 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.
About Zymark
Zymark is a leading provider of automation solution serving the worldwide life science, biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. The company has introduced new automation paradigms that have empowered scientists to raise laboratory research to a new, more industrialized level. With these advances, Zymark has firmly established itself as a solutions provider with a single-minded goal of streamlining the entire drug discovery pipeline. Zymark provides direct sales, service, and applications support throughout the world and hosts the annual ISLAR conference on laboratory automation.
Molecular Devices announces Threshold® Enterprise 1.0 Software
Sunnyvale, Calif., April 24, 2003 — Molecular Devices Corporation (NASDAQ: MDCC), a leader in innovative solutions for drug discovery and life sciences research, today announced the introduction of Threshold® Enterprise 1.0 Software. Used with Molecular Devices’ Threshold® Immunoassay Detection System, Enterprise 1.0 Software provides the tools necessary for compliance with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 21 CFR Part 11 Final Rule.
Threshold is used by pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies worldwide to detect and quantitate contaminants in biopharmaceutical products. These contaminants include host cell DNA, host cell Proteins, bovine contaminants, such as BSA, IgG, insulin, and transferrin, Proteins A and G, and any unique protein that can be bound by antibodies. The Threshold System is applied to assay development, process development and quality control applications, often in highly regulated environments.
“Threshold instruments and consumables are a mainstay of quality control in many of our customers’ laboratories” stated Stephen Oldfield, Ph.D. and Vice President of Marketing at Molecular Devices. “By providing our customers with tools to meet their regulatory requirements, we are ensuring a continuing role for Threshold in quality and process control. The security tools in the Threshold Enterprise Software, the addition of a Spike Recovery Report for analysis of the results within the software application, and a complete validation package allow current and future Threshold users to comply with the GLP/GMP/FDA 21 CFR Part 11.”
Specifically, Threshold Enterprise includes the following security tools:
- Individual passwords and user IDs
- Permission-dependent access to major system features
- Audit trail of log-on and log-off activities and all user actions that modify the file
- Signed electronic statements
To obtain more information about this product or to request an online demonstration, please contact us at info@moldev.com.
Molecular Devices launches FLIPR Calcium 3 Assay Kit
Sunnyvale, Calif., January 28, 2003 — 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 3 Assay Kit. This kit, using technology licensed exclusively to Molecular Devices by Bayer AG, addresses a broad spectrum of drug targets in high-throughput screening, including those that have proved problematic with other calcium assay formats.
Cell-based calcium flux assays are considered one of the most important screening techniques used in pharmaceutical drug discovery, and all of the major pharmaceutical companies utilize Molecular Devices' FLIPR system for these assays. However, many drug targets exhibit weak activity or are expressed at very low levels and do not generate reliable results in traditional assay formats. The enhanced fluorescence signal intensity of the FLIPR Calcium 3 Assay Kit provides substantially greater dynamic range, revealing cellular activity that may go undetected with other assay techniques.
“Because the FLIPR Calcium 3 Assay Kit generates a large signal from both weak and robust receptors, researchers can use the same assay chemistry for multiple different assay targets. With the FLIPR Calcium 3 Assay Kit, researchers have a new tool to simplify and expedite the drug discovery process from assay development to high throughput screening" stated Stephen Oldfield, Ph.D. and Vice President of Marketing at Molecular Devices. "Researchers no longer need a battery of different calcium assays with the hope of finding one that is appropriate for the target of interest."
In common with other FLIPR Assay Kits, the homogenous single step format of the FLIPR Calcium 3 Assay Kit eliminates the dispensing and washing steps associated with multi-step assays, resulting in saved time and minimizing potential errors and equipment failure. The end result is a faster and more streamlined route to drug discovery.
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About Molecular Devices Corporation
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, proteomics 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 FLIPR® Calcium 3 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," "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.
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