TORONTO, Feb. 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Tm Bioscience Corporation , a leader in the commercial genetic testing market, today announced it has signed an agreement to supply the Montreal Children's Hospital of the McGill University Health Centre (Montreal, Quebec) with Tag-It(TM) reagents for use in its Cystic Fibrosis (CF) testing program.
"Our laboratory has been facing growing demand for Cystic Fibrosis screening over the past few years. The Tm platform will allow us to address this demand with an accurate and rapid assay," said Dr. Patrick Scott, Director of the Molecular Genetics Laboratory at the Montreal Children's Hospital.
"We are delighted that the Montreal Children's Hospital has selected our Tag-It(TM) technology, marking an expansion of our commercial footprint within the Canadian market," said Mr. Greg Hines, President and CEO of Tm Bioscience. "We look forward to working with Dr. Scott and to taking our Tag-It(TM) Cystic Fibrosis Kit through the IVDD approval process at Health Canada."
About the Montreal Children's Hospital
The Montreal Children's Hospital is the pediatric teaching hospital of the McGill University Health Centre. This institution is a leader in the care and treatment of sick infants, children, and adolescents from across Quebec. The Montreal Children's Hospital provides a high level and broad scope of health care services, and provides ultra specialized care in many fields including: cardiology and cardiac surgery; neurology and neurosurgery, traumatology; genetic research; psychiatry and child development and musculoskeletal conditions, including orthopedics and rheumatology. Fully bilingual and multicultural, the institution respectfully serves an increasingly diverse community in more than 50 languages.
About Tag-It(TM) reagents and genetic tests
Tm Bioscience's product menu is focused in the fields of human genetic disorders, pharmacogenetics and infectious disease. The Company has commercialized Analyte Specific Reagents(x) and a series of Tag-It(TM) tests(xx) for a variety of genetic disorders. The Company's Tag-It(TM) Cystic Fibrosis (CF) Kit is the first multiplexed human disease genotyping test to be cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an in vitro device (IVD) for diagnostic use in the United States. It has also received the CE Mark, allowing the test to be marketed for diagnostic purposes in the European Union. All genetic tests from Tm Bioscience are based on the Tag-It(TM) Universal Array platform, which utilizes a proprietary universal tag system that allows for easy optimization, product development and expansion. Assays from Tm operate on the Luminex xMAP(R) system, a well-established bead based instrument. Combined, the Universal Array and Luminex instrument enable the rapid production of flexible, high-throughput, low-cost DNA-based tests.
(x) Analyte Specific Reagent. Analytical and performance characteristics are not established. (xx) For Investigational Use Only. The performance characteristics of these products have not been established About Tm Bioscience - Putting the Human Genome to Work(TM)
Tm Bioscience is a DNA-based diagnostics company developing a suite of genetic tests. Tm Bioscience's product pipeline includes tests for genetic disorders, drug metabolism, and infectious diseases. Tm Bioscience is located in Toronto, Ontario. Additional information about Tm Bioscience can be found at www.tmbioscience.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements, which by their nature necessarily involve risk and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially from those contemplated by such statements. Tm Bioscience considers the assumptions on which these forward-looking statements are based to be reasonable at the time they were prepared, but cautions readers that these assumptions may ultimately prove to be incorrect due to certain risks and uncertainties including, without limitation, the difficulty of predicting regulatory approvals, market acceptance and demand for new products, the availability of appropriate genetic content and other materials required for Tm Bioscience's products, Tm Bioscience's ability to manufacture its products on a large scale, the protection of intellectual property connected with genetic content, the impact of competitive products, currency fluctuations, risks associated with Tm Bioscience's manufacturing facility and any other similar or related risks and uncertainties. If any of these risks or uncertainties were to materialize, or if assumptions underlying the forward-looking statements of management were to prove incorrect, actual results of Tm Bioscience could vary materially from those that are expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Tm Bioscience disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
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Tm BioscienceCONTACT: INVESTOR RELATIONS: Tm Bioscience - Canada, James Smith, TheEquicom Group, Tel.: (416) 815-0700, Email: jsmith@equicomgroup.com; Torequest a free copy of this organization's annual report, please go tohttp://www.newswire.ca and click on Tools for Investors.