Caliper Life Sciences Acquires Technology for New Approach to Cell-Based Drug Discovery from Amphora Discovery
Caliper Life Sciences, Inc. and Amphora Discovery Corp. announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement for Caliper to acquire certain technology developed by Amphora for cell-based screening assays. Amphora, a privately held company that employs Caliper’s microfluidics technology as a key element in developing high-value drugs for the pharmaceutical industry, has developed broad assay expertise for a number of target classes. Under the terms of the agreement, Amphora will transfer to Caliper its proprietary cell culture techniques, as well as various hardware and software upgrades that Amphora has implemented on Caliper’s proprietary microfluidic screening system. In exchange, Caliper will compensate Amphora through a combination of cash, Caliper products, and royalties based on future sales of cell-based assays. Caliper will incorporate the acquired technology into a new calcium-flux assay to provide versatility, ease-of-use and high-quality, single-cell data for scientists studying
G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) targets.
With the new assay in place, users of Caliper’s LabChip 3000 Drug Discovery System will be able to choose from a broad selection of cell lines, either adherent or suspended, for their assay. Cell lines that were previously not well-suited to microfluidic-based assays, such as HEK-293, will be viable choices. Requiring only 1000 cells per well, the new assay eliminates the requirement for extensive cell culture facilities and enables screeners to study cells that are in short supply (e.g., blood platelets and neurons), thereby opening up an area of study that is inaccessible to standard microplate-based technologies.
“We are excited by Amphora’s work and pleased to be acquiring this technology from Amphora,” said Kevin Hrusovsky, President and Chief Executive Officer at Caliper. “Caliper and Amphora have developed a truly symbiotic relationship, as evidenced by Amphora’s recent announcement regarding their agreement with Aventis to deploy Caliper’s microfluidics technology on a global scale (see related news at www.amphoracorp.com/news/pr033004.html ). We believe that the more ways we can get people involved with our microfluidics technology, the better, and the Aventis-Amphora collaboration is one more sign of the accelerating pace of microfluidics adoption.”
Marty Haslanger, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer at Amphora, commented, “Amphora has built a wealth of accomplishments in lead discovery, driven by our innovations in assay development and microfluidic applications. We are delighted to work with Caliper to commercialize our innovations. Lead discovery will benefit from rapid access to more precise assays with higher biological content as a result of these cell-based assays. We look forward to working with Caliper to provide this important advancement to the screening community.”
Scientists from Amphora are speaking about the new cell technologies at various conferences, including this week’s MipTec 2004 conference in Basel, Switzerland and CHI’s Intelligent Drug Discovery and Development meeting May 17-19 in Philadelphia, PA.
About Caliper Life Sciences
Caliper Life Sciences uses its advanced liquid handling and LabChip technologies to create leading edge tools that accelerate drug discovery and enable diagnosis of disease. Caliper headquarters are located in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, with R&D, operations and manufacturing facilities for LabChip devices in Mountain View, California, and direct sales, service and applications support throughout the world. Caliper customers and partners include many of the largest pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and life sciences companies. For more information, please visit Caliper’s web site at www.caliperLS.com .
The statements in this press release regarding the development and commercialization of products based on the technology acquired from Amphora are “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act as amended. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially for Caliper from those projected. These risk factors are discussed under the caption “Factors Affecting Operating Results” in Caliper’s Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2003, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 15, 2004. Caliper expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statements contained herein to reflect any change in Caliper’s expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions, or circumstances on which any such statements are based.
About Amphora
Amphora Discovery was formed in September 2001 to discover small molecule therapeutics for important diseases. By applying an end-to-end high precision process and screening across biological systems and pathways, Amphora is able to rapidly develop potent, selective drug leads coupled with important complementary data designed to optimize lead optimization efforts. This results in a shortened time-to-market, reduced risk and a more effective/safer drug. The senior management has over 50 years of experience in drug discovery including developing world-class lead generation operations. Amphora is headquartered in Research Triangle Park, NC with additional facilities in Los Altos, CA.
NOTE: LabChip is a registered trademark of Caliper Life Sciences, Inc.
