Bagnols-sur-Cèze, France, June 15, 2011 - Cisbio Bioassays (www.cisbio.com), global developer of products, technologies and services used for assay development and drug screening and for in vitro diagnostics, today announced that it has expanded its catalogue of Tag-lite® fluorescent ligands, used for the investigation and screening of G-protein coupled receptor (GPCR) activity, to 43 ligands. The newest ligands target muscarinic receptors, making Cisbio Bioassays the only company offering non-radioactive and cell-based tools that address the entire muscarinic receptor family.
Muscarinic is a GPCR family consisting of five different types of receptors. This family is of particular interest in drug discovery studies for diseases including asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), estimated to become the third leading cause of death worldwide by 2030.[i] Until now, researchers have relied on time consuming and costly ligand binding radioactive methods for profiling the entire muscarinic family.
Cisbio Bioassays’ offering now enables researchers to investigate the five muscarinic receptors with multiple binding and functional assays that are based on one technology, avoiding competing assay formats. Tests performed with the company’s ready-to-use reagents also allow for the investigation of the biological complexity of these cell membrane receptors using the same cellular material, which eliminates the need to develop and qualify cells beforehand. These non-radioactive and cell-based tools simplify protocols, reduce development time and increase assay precision.
“We are constantly enhancing our Tag-lite platform with ligands, cell lines and assays as part of our ongoing commitment to provide a complete, non-radioactive drug discovery solution for accelerated GPCR research,” said François Degorce, director of marketing and communication at Cisbio Bioassays. “Our ligand catalogue now enables the investigation of 59 distinct GPCRs and, as the correlation between radioactivity and Tag-lite has solid data behind it, we continue to look at other, entire receptor families.”
Tag-lite is a rapid, non-radioactive platform used for cell surface receptor investigation, small molecule and biotherapeutic screening. Streamlined for highly selective ligand binding, receptor oligomer studies and functional assays. Tag-lite can be used in combination with Cisbio Bioassays’ cAMP and IP-One second messenger accumulation assays, Cellul’Erk and Akt assays and is supported by a full range of services for the custom design and production of plasmids, cells and ligands.
About Cisbio Bioassays, member of IBA group
Cisbio Bioassays, member of IBA group, is a global developer of products, technologies and services used in assay development and drug screening. The company pioneered the field of homogenous fluorescence methodologies via its proprietary technology, HTRF®, a highly sensitive, robust technology for the detection of molecular interactions and widely used by the pharmaceutical industry for the high throughput screening stage of drug development. Coupled with its Tag-lite® cell surface receptor investigation technology and custom assay development support, Cisbio Bioassays provides researchers with a comprehensive platform for enhanced and accelerated drug discovery. In addition, the company develops in vitro diagnostics and produces a selection of biological reagents and methods used by pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies and contract research organizations (CROs). Based in Codolet, France, with facilities in Bedford, MA, U.S.A., a laboratory in Shanghai, China and a network of distributors worldwide, Cisbio Bioassays is a business unit of the IBA group, a leading developer of technologies, pharmaceuticals and tailor-made healthcare solutions for cancer diagnosis and therapy. Please visit www.cisbio.com for more information about Cisbio Bioassays or www.iba-worldwide.com for more information about IBA.
HTRF® and Tag-lite® are trademarks of Cisbio Bioassays.
Media contacts:
Christina Aplington
Ballou PR for Cisbio Bioassays
+33 (0)1 42 22 93 65
christina@balloupr.com
