Paris, July 8, 2010 – Magnisense, a developer of next generation bioassays for human and animal diagnostics, food safety and environmental protection, today announced that the US Patent and Trademark Office has issued the company’s founding patent entitled Method for Analyzing a Mixture of Biological and/or Chemical Components using Magnetic Particles and Device for the Implementation of said Method - a patent which had already been granted in Europe in 2009.
This patent is an essential piece of Magnisense’s intellectual property and constitutes the cornerstone of a strong portfolio of 5 patent families. In 2009, a patent covering a multiplexed method based on magnetic signatures had already been granted in France. The priority patent covers the MIAtek™ technology used by the company to develop its next-generation magnetic immunoassays for human and animal diagnostics, food safety and environmental protection. The patent will expire in 2021 in Europe and in 2025 in the USA. The expiry dates for the remaining 4 families run as far as 2028.
“This patent is a key element of the intellectual property portfolio developed by Magnisense. The fact that it has now been issued in the USA is a strong driver and will motivate our company to innovate even more decisively in the in vitro diagnostics (IVD) sector”, commented Magnisense Chairman Luc Lenglet. “Issuance of this brevet will give us more credibility with our American partners and will therefore help us to reinforce our presence in the US”, he concluded.
Magnisense’s assays are based on the use of magnetic beads as markers. This constitutes a true technological breakthrough that is stimulating major interest in the IVD sector, thanks to a number of advantages: - the technology enables the detection and accurate quantification of biological targets by leveraging the non-linear magnetization properties of superparamagnetic particles; this is not the case for conventional enzymatic or fluorescent labels. - it combines the performance levels of laboratory assays with the convenience and ease-of- use of rapid, point-of-care tests. - thanks to the use of magnetic particles, the results are highly stable over time (unlike fluorescent labels) but do not suffer from the disadvantages of radiolabels. - the technology delivers a significant reduction in testing time, when compared with methods like the enzyme-linked immunoassay.
About Magnisense
Magnisense was incorporated in 2004 and has been based in Paris and San Francisco since 2007 and 2009, respectively. The company develops and markets next-generation magnetic bioassays which improve rapid diagnostic performance for human and animal diagnostics, food safety and environmental protection testing. The assays are based on a technological breakthrough: the use of magnetic beads as markers. The magnetic signal is not perturbed by the surrounding environment, which enables more sensitive, reproducible detection than can be achieved with conventional enzymatic or fluorescent labels. The Magnisense technologies enable the detection and accurate quantification of one or more biological targets in large sample volumes.
Magnisense is developing two rapid test formats with a single dose, producing objective, quantifiable and traceable results via a portable reader, for different application areas: ? MIAstrip®: point-of-care testing strips that enable the identification of a target via detection of known markers for a number of diseases including avian flu, cardiac disease, tetanus and bacterial, viral, parasitic or fungal infections. ? MIAflo®: disposable cartridges for detection and quantification of targets, such as bacterial contamination in food products (e.g. Listeria and Salmonella) or water (e.g. Legionella) with a sensitivity that delivers a significant reduction in testing time.
For more information, visit http://www.magnisense.com
Press and analyst contacts:
Magnisense ayat El Yousfi, Marketing Manager + 33 (0)1 45 62 80 00 + 1 408 666 76 39 hayat.el-yousfi@magnisense.com
ALIZE RP Press relations Caroline Carmagnol + 33 (0)6 64 18 99 59 caroline@alizerp.com
