Rockville, Maryland and Bend, Oregon – October 20, 2014 -- Theranostics Health, Inc. and Grace Bio-Labs of have entered into a Product Licensing Agreement for the manufacture and market distribution of Theranostic’s novel tissue preservative, TheraLin®. Under the terms of the agreement, Grace Bio-Labs will be the commercial manufacturer and distributor for the patented (US Patent 8,460,859) TheraLin® fixative with the objective of accelerating the utilization of this novel reagent for advancement of cellular and protein analysis.
The TheraLin® fixative was developed under a series of NIH grants awarded under the NCI IMAT program to Dr. Lance Liotta and Virginia Espina of the Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine at George Mason University. The fixative not only preserves the morphology of tissues and cells, allowing pathologists to conduct standard immuno-histochemistry and histopathology procedures, but also preserves the integrity of proteins, and more importantly, modified proteins, such as phosphoproteins, which are an indication of a protein’s activity. TheraLin®, which contains no formalin, supports multiple, downstream processes, ranging from routine histopathological analysis to more specific biomarker applications.
The TheraLin® fixative allows for standardization of biopsy collection, fixation, and the pathologist’s workflow, providing equivalent immunohistochemistry and cytological assessment to standard formalin fixation, including H&E staining, and does not interfere with antigen retrieval for a variety of immunostaining procedures. It requires no special handling, can be used at ambient temperatures, and collected biopsies can be stored at refrigeration temperatures (4ºC) prior to processing. Samples can be processed using standard methodologies for ethanol based embedding in paraffin, and blocks can be stored for extended periods for future analysis.
“This Product Licensing Agreement with Theranostics Health will complement our Company’s portfolio of tools for protein biomarker discovery. TheraLin® addresses the fundamental needs of molecular pathologists and the RPPA research community by expanding the capacity to detect and measure labile proteins of clinical relevance,” said Jennipher L. Grudzien, VP & Director of Special Projects at Grace Bio-Labs.
“We are pleased to work with an organization of Grace Bio-Labs focus and look forward to contributing to its innovative solutions for cell and protein analysis,” says Ron Hencin, VP of Business Development for Theranostics Health. “This agreement will provide broad access to the TheraLin® fixative for not only the translational medicine community, but will also benefit pathologists and oncologists by providing a better solution for the preservation of critical cellular morphologies and protein phosphorylation status.”
About Theranostics Health Inc.
Theranostics Health, a privately-held biotechnology company, develops technologies to measure the activation status of key signaling pathways that are instrumental in the development of companion diagnostics for molecular targeted therapies. While the Company has historically focused on providing services to pharmaceutical and biotechnology drug development companies, Theranostics Health is now developing testing capabilities for clinical oncologists to advance personalized medicine through its TheraLink™ Diagnostic Assays.
For more information please visit www.theranosticshealth.com
About Grace Bio-Labs
Grace Bio-Labs is a privately held company that develops and manufactures a comprehensive line of innovative sealing solutions for hybridization, immunohistochemistry and imaging applications to improve speed and accuracy in protein and cell analysis research. The Company is the inventor of microporous nitrocellulose coated Film-slides and manufactures ONCYTE® brand, the substrate of choice for protein microarrays. Grace Bio-Labs, provides custom manufacturing services and is a key component supplier to globally recognized biotechnology companies. For more information please visit www.gracebio.com
Ron Hencin, Ph.D.
VP Business Development
(301) 251-4443, x119
rhencin@theranosticshealth.com
Jennipher Grudzien
VP & Dir. Special Projects
(541) 318-1208, x305
jgrudzien@gracebio.com
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