CARLSBAD, Calif. & BALTIMORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Invitrogen Corporation (NASDAQ:IVGN - News), a provider of essential life science technologies for research, production and diagnostics, and Lentigen Corporation, a privately-held biotechnology company specializing in the development and manufacture of lentiviral gene delivery technologies, announced today a partnership to develop and supply gene over-expression products and services. Invitrogen will exclusively commercialize the products and services from the partnership.
Lentiviral vectors are widely accepted in the research community as an effective tool for gene delivery into all mammalian cell types, including neural, blood, and stem cells. Under the agreement, Invitrogen will provide access to its extensive human and mouse gene libraries for use by Lentigen for the development of ready-to-use lentiviral particles that deliver enhanced functionality and reliability.
“This partnership will combine Invitrogen’s immense resources in human gene collections and the speed and convenience of Gateway® and TOPO® cloning technologies and gene synthesis, with Lentigen’s leading position in lentiviral vector development and manufacturing,” said Nathan Wood, Invitrogen’s Vice President of Cloning and Protein Expression. “Researchers will be able to easily obtain ready-to-use lentiviral particles carrying either customer-designed genetic elements or predetermined and validated gene sets from Invitrogen’s Ultimate™ ORF collection.”
Access to these lentiviral products and services will substantially reduce the time that many researchers currently spend to prepare and characterize lentivirus particles in their own laboratories.
“This partnership will enable Lentigen to continue to apply its manufacturing and development expertise to meet the growing demand for cDNA lentivirus products in the research community,” said Tim Ravenscroft, CEO of Lentigen Corporation. “Invitrogen’s first-to-market position in lentivirus kits and dedication to quality products and technical support of researchers were key factors in our selection of Invitrogen as our partner for this endeavor. This partnership enables Lentigen to focus on its core strategies of lentivirus-based biotherapeutics and vaccine development.”
About Invitrogen Corporation
Invitrogen Corporation (NASDAQ:IVGN - News) provides products and services that support academic and government research institutions and pharmaceutical and biotech companies worldwide in their efforts to improve the human condition. The company provides essential life science technologies for disease research, drug discovery, and commercial bioproduction. Invitrogen’s own research and development efforts are focused on breakthrough innovation in all major areas of biological discovery including functional genomics, proteomics, stem cells, cell therapy and cell biology -- placing Invitrogen’s products in nearly every major laboratory in the world. Founded in 1987, Invitrogen is headquartered in Carlsbad, California, and conducts business in more than 70 countries around the world. The company employs approximately 4,700 scientists and other professionals and had revenues of approximately $1.3 billion in 2007. For more information, visit www.invitrogen.com.
About Lentigen Corporation
Lentigen Corporation is a privately owned biotechnology company focused on the development of lentiviral vector technology for a wide range of therapeutic, vaccine, and research applications in biotechnology and medicine. Lentiviral vectors are the most efficient vehicles for the delivery of genes or gene silencing sequences stably into cells. Lentigen is a highly collaborative company, co-developing Lentiviral vector-based products across a broad spectrum of bench to clinical applications. Partnerships include The National Institutes of Health, The University of Pennsylvania, ThermoFisher Scientific and The U.S. Army. For further information, visit www.lentigen.com
Safe Harbor Statement
Certain statements contained in this press release are considered “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, and it is Invitrogen’s intent that such statements be protected by the safe harbor created thereby. Forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to; 1) Invitrogen will provide access to its extensive human and mouse gene libraries for use by Lentigen; 2) researchers will be able to easily obtain ready-to-use lentiviral particles carrying either customer-designed genetic elements or predetermined and validated gene sets; 3) access to these lentiviral products and services will substantially reduce the time currently spent to prepare and characterize lentivirus particles; 4) Invitrogen will exclusively commercialize the products and services from the partnership; 5) the partnership will enable Lentigen to continue to apply its manufacturing and development expertise to meet the growing demand for cDNA lentivirus products. Potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to a) the agreement may or may not lead to the development of ready-to-use lentiviral particles that are easy to use, and deliver enhanced functionality and reliability; and the risks that the market will not accept the companies’ products and services, or that the companies will be unsuccessful in their efforts to develop new products and services, as well as other risks and uncertainties detailed from time to time in Invitrogen’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
Contact:
Invitrogen Media: Farnaz Khadem, 760-603-7245 farnaz.khadem@invitrogen.com Porter Novelli Life Sciences Carolyn Hawley, 619-849-5375 or Lentigen Contacts: Richard Lewis Communications, Inc. 212-827-0020 Megan Dubrowski, mdubrowski@rlcinc.com, Media Cecelia Heer, cheer@rlc.com, Investors
Source: Invitrogen
