Lonza Inc. and Bar Harbor BioTechnology, Inc. Sign Exclusive Sales Agreement
Basel / Walkersville, 09 July 2008
Lonza and Bar Harbor BioTechnology, Inc. (BHB) announce that an exclusive sales agreement has been signed between the two companies. Beginning 08 July 2008 Lonza will be the sole global distributor of StellARray™ Gene Expression System products from Bar Harbor BioTechnology. The strategic alliance between the two companies combines the Cell Discovery business of Lonza Bioscience and the StellARray™ products of BHB. Focused gene expression analysis is an important application for primary cells and this agreement enables customers to purchase their primary cells and the tools to carry out gene expression from one single source.
"As the leading supplier of primary cells we feel this is a perfect marriage of primary cells, the most relevant cell culture model, to a powerful, easy to use assay platform, that lets researchers really understand what their cells are doing. This agreement with Bar Harbor BioTechnology enables us to better serve our customers with complete cell analysis systems" said Shawn Cavanagh, President of Lonza Bioscience.
"The combination of our products will be a perfect complement to the needs of genetic researchers around the world. Now scientists can attain the biological materials and the tools necessary to perform gene expression experiments from one company" reports Robert Phelps, President of Bar Harbor BioTechnology, Inc. "With Lonza’s global infrastructure and our innovative way of conducting gene expression experiments, we believe the benefit to science will be significant."
BHB's StellARray™ Gene Expression System contains a suite of products comprised of GeneSieve™ Query, StellARray™ qPCR arrays, and Global Pattern Recognition™ (GPR) Analysis Tool. The tools eliminate the need of house keeping gene normalizers and knocks down expression fold change biases that make it difficult to recognize truly significant gene expression changes in a cell. Together they form an integrated group of tools that allow scientists to perform fast, cost effective gene expression research and analyze gene expression data in a new light that could potentially lead to novel discoveries.
About Lonza
Lonza is one of the world's leading suppliers to the pharmaceutical, healthcare and life science industries. Its products and services span its customers' needs from research to final product manufacture. Lonza is the global leader in the production and support of active pharmaceutical ingredients both chemically as well as biotechnologically. Biopharmaceuticals are one of the key growth drivers of the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Lonza has strong capabilities in large and small molecules, peptides, amino acids and niche bioproducts which play an important role in the development of novel medicines and healthcare products. Lonza is a leader in cell-based research, endotoxin detection and cell therapy manufacturing. Lonza is also a leading provider of value chemical and biotech ingredients to the nutrition, hygiene, preservation, agro and personal care markets.
Lonza is headquartered in Basel, Switzerland and is listed on the SWX Swiss Exchange. In 2007, Lonza had sales of CHF 2.87 billion. Further information can be found at www.lonza.com.
About Bar Harbor BioTechnology, Inc.
Bar Harbor BioTechnology, Inc. is a privately held company that was formed in October 2006. The company is located in Maine and began selling its products on October 1, 2007. It manufactures software and consumables for purposes of genetic research in areas of cancer, stem cell research, immunology, metabolism, and specific neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, Huntington's disease, and Parkinson's disease. Further information can be found at www.bhbio.com.
For further Information:
Lonza:
Head Corporate Communications
Janet White
Tel +41 61 316 8566
Fax +41 61 316 9566
janet.white@lonza.com
Media Relations
Dominik Werner
Tel +41 61 316 8798
Fax +41 61 316 9798
dominik.werner@lonza.com
Investor Relations
Alexandre Pasini
Tel +41 61 316 8835
Fax +41 61 316 9835
alexandre.pasini@lonza.com
Bar Harbor BioTechnology:
Robert Phelps
President
rphelps@bhbio.com