Solvo Biotechnology And Xenotech Announce North American Distribution And Service Representation Agreement For SOLVO’s Membrane Transporter Assay Products And Services From January 1st 2007

LENEXA, Kan. and BUDAPEST, Hungary, Nov. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- XenoTech, LLC and SOLVO Biotechnology (SOLVO) announced that they have formed a strategic partnership to distribute and represent SOLVO’s leading Membrane Transporter Assay Products and Services in the US and Canada.

“With XenoTech’s established expertise in drug-drug interaction studies and our reputation for high-quality in vitro products, we see this partnership with SOLVO as a key part of our strategic development,” states Tom Zaleski, VP of Sales, Marketing and Customer Service at XenoTech. “Transporters are proving to be the next frontier in drug development; the increase of transporter topics at scientific conferences and within scientific publications is evidence of their growing importance in developing new compounds. As a leading supplier of high-quality in vitro products and services, we feel a strong responsibility to incorporate this important next generation of in vitro tools to satisfy the industry’s expanding research needs, and we look forward to advancing the transporter market to its full potential.”

“By now, it is common knowledge among researchers that membrane transporters play a key role in the function of the blood-brain barrier (BBB), blood-CSF barrier, blood-testis barrier, intestinal epithelia (absorption), airway epithelia, liver epithelia and the kidney epithelia,” explained Gabor Heltovics, SOLVO’s Business Development Director. “SOLVO’s leading assay systems are designed to detect interaction of compounds with a wide array of membrane transporter proteins found at these vital pharmacological barriers. We are very excited about the opportunity to work with XenoTech as a strategic partner to combine the market leading strength of our products and services that will provide significant added value to our North American Customers.”

SOLVO’s unique technology platform is built on our core capabilities: -- Expression of a wide array of human ABC transporters -- Functional characterization of proteins -- Identification of new drug targets on transporters -- Development of various cell lines expressing a range of pharmacologically relevant uptake transporter proteins (e.g. NTCP, OATPs, PEPTs, OATs OCTs). About XenoTech, LLC:

For over 12 years, XenoTech’s experienced staff has delivered the highest quality products and GLP contract studies available to the global pharmaceutical community. We are a dedicated and leading supplier of in vitro test systems including hepatocytes, subcellular fractions, CYP antibodies, recombinant enzymes, CYP substrates and metabolites. Our contract services deliver crucial information to assess the potential for drug-drug interactions, and our customers benefit from our unparalleled expertise in drug metabolism, enzyme inhibition and enzyme induction. XenoTech’s studies incorporate fully-automated and validated enzymatic assays, expert consultation on study results, 21 CFR Part 11-compliant electronic data handling, custom-formatted reports and regulatory submissions assistance.

About SOLVO Biotechnology:

SOLVO Biotechnology -- “The Transporter Company” has been the pioneer and the leader in the commercialization of Membrane Transporter technologies, including therapeutics, diagnostics and drug discovery assays. The company offers drug discovery products and services to pharmaceutical, biotechnology and consumer goods industries, relevant to many therapeutic areas and product categories.

SOLVO Biotechnology provides five different solutions for ABC (xenobiotic) efflux and uptake transporter assays to be used in drug discovery:

-- Membrane Preparations -- to be used for ATPase Assay and Vesicular Transport Assay (indirect and direct uptake) measurements; -- Whole cell and Monolayer Assays; -- Fee-For-Service Screening; -- Sublicense for the Calcein Assay; -- Custom-Made Expression and Screening Systems.

SOLVO Biotechnology has an extensive development pipeline that is expected to create a unique service platform that integrates, correlates and harmonizes DMPK and ADME-Tox in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo research systems to evaluate the membrane transporter profiles of drug candidates at various pharmacological barriers and transporter mediated drug-drug interactions.

XenoTech, LLC

CONTACT: Kammie Settle of XenoTech, LLC, +1-913-227-7147, or Csilla Kegyesof SOLVO Biotechnology, +36 23 503 940

MORE ON THIS TOPIC