HemoGenix LLC Launches HALO(TM) 384HT, The First Ever High Throughput Predictive Stem Cell Hemotoxicity Screening Platform

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., June 22 /PRNewswire/ -- HemoGenix(R), Inc is proud to announce the first ever, true high-throughput stem cell hemotoxicity predictive testing platform using a 384-well plate format for both contract research services and a comprehensive assay kit product line.

In 2002, HemoGenix(R) was the first company to provide the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry with the HALO(TM) Platform, a non-subjective and fully standardized ATP-based in vitro luminescence assay system designed to routinely determine the effects of drugs on stem cells of the blood-forming system. Since its founding in 2000, the HemoGenix(R) Premise has been that the highest predictive value in toxicity testing, safety and risk assessment for new drug candidates and other agents can only be achieved using high- performance in vitro assays employing fresh, primary human target cells as surrogate tests for real situations in human clinical trials. This premise was substantiated through a peer reviewed article published in Toxicological Sciences entitled "Validation and Development of a Predictive Paradigm for Hemotoxicity Using a Multi-functional Bioluminescence Colony-Forming Proliferation Assay" in 2005 (vol. 87, pp. 427-441).

Originally developed and validated with the financial backing of a SBIR grant from the National Cancer Institute, the HALO(TM) Platform was designed to test for potential toxicity to stem cells of the blood-forming system using primary human bone marrow, peripheral blood or umbilical cord blood target cells at any stage in the drug development pipeline. Further developments have allowed the HALO(TM) Platform to detect a total of 14 separate cell populations involved in the blood-forming system that can be detected not only on human cells, but also those animal species used in pre-clinical drug testing, notably non-human primate, dog, rat and mouse.

This unique and patented technology has now been further developed from a 96- to a 384-well plate format, thereby providing biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies with a true high-throughput (HT) and predictive platform for screening large numbers of compounds for potential hemotoxicity during the drug discovery screening stage.

In addition to HALO(TM), HemoGenix(R) has also developed the LUMENESC(TM) Platform to detect toxicity to the mesenchymal stem cell system, responsible for producing muscle, skeletal, fat and even nerve cells, and STEMTox(TM) for the detection of toxicity to multiple proliferating cell types, including primary cells from different organs and tissues as well as embryonic stem and germ cells and even transformed cell lines.

The HALO(TM)-384HT Predictive Hemotoxicity Platform, now joins forces with LUMENESC(TM) 384HT Tox and STEMTox(TM) 384HT to detect and measure potential toxicity to more than 50 cell types from 14 different cell systems of the body using a single ATP-based luminescence signal detection system. This powerful and unique line of high-throughput, fully standardized assays is called "In vitro Cross-Platform Comparative Toxicity Testing"(TM).

Ivan Rich, PhD, Founder and CEO of HemoGenix(R), Inc said that "although we are continually improving our present technology and developing new technology, the HALO(TM)-384HT Predictive Hemotoxicity Platform and "In vitro Cross-Platform Comparative Toxicity Testing"(TM) is the culmination of our primary goal, namely to provide biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies and investigators in other research areas and institutions the means to rapidly and easily test and directly compare the effects of different agents on multiple cell types simultaneously in a non-subjective, fully standardized and high-throughput manner."

The HALO(TM)-384HT Platform and "In vitro Cross-Platform Comparative Toxicity Testing"(TM) will be launched at the upcoming 6th International Conference on Early Toxicity Screening, June 22-23, 2006 in Seattle, WA and at the International Society of Stem Cell Research (ISSCR), June 29-July 1, 2006 in Toronto, Canada.

More information is available at www.hemogenix.com and info@hemogenix.com CONTACT: George Down 719-264-6250 gdown@hemogenix.com

CONTACT: George Down of HemoGenix, Inc., +1-719-264-6250,gdown@hemogenix.com

Web site: http://www.hemogenix.com/