Xona Microfluidics Issued European Patents for Neuron Research Device

DURHAM, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Xona Microfluidics, a biotechnology company focused on manufacturing and distributing microfluidic devices to neuroscientists and laboratories worldwide, today announced that the European Patent Office has issued EPO Patent Nos. 1581612 and 2719756 covering the design of Xona’s products used for neuroscientific and neurodegenerative disease research. Xona already holds the exclusive license to manufacture its neuronal research devices under United States Patent No. 7,419,822 B2, and this new European patent adds to its exclusivity in Europe, specifically the United Kingdom, Ireland, Switzerland, France, Spain and Germany. The patents are assigned to the University of California and licensed exclusively to Xona.

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“We are excited to have the exclusive license to make and distribute Xona’s neuron research devices in critical countries in Europe. Over fifty percent of our business comes from laboratories and neuroscientists in Europe, in addition to U.S. and Asia,” said Joseph Harris, Member, Co-Founder and Manager of Xona.

Dr. Anne Taylor, now Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, invented the neuron device while working as a graduate student in the laboratory of Dr. Noo Li Jeon at the University of California, Irvine in 2003. Dr. Carl Cotman, Professor of Neuroscience at the University of California, Irvine, and world-renowned expert in the field of neuroscience, helped guide Dr. Taylor’s research. “This is really the only product neuroscientists can use to study cultured neurons with this much reliability and proven scientific merit,” said Dr. Cotman. “Xona’s involvement has been really critical to making the device available to so many neuroscientists who rely on it.”

Dr. Taylor, Dr. Jeon and Dr. Cotman are all credited as co-inventors.

After publication about research involving the device in 2003 in Langmuir and in 2005 in Nature Methods, neuroscientists started asking for more and more devices to use in their research. At first Mr. Harris, then a laboratory manager for Dr. Jeon, distributed them from Dr. Jeon’s lab. But as making the device took more of Mr. Harris’ time and demand increased, they met with Brad Taylor, a California attorney and Dr. Taylor’s husband, and formed a company in 2008. Since then, Xona has continued to grow due to neuroscientists’ continued reliance on Xona’s devices as an essential tool for research.

“Xona definitely plans to offer even more innovative and reliable products for neuroscientists to use for basic and pharmaceutical research,” said Dr. Taylor, who is also Member and Co-Founder. “Xona’s exclusivity in designated European countries gives us further assurance to move forward with our portfolio of products,” added Mr. Taylor, Member and Counsel. Dr. Taylor said the neuroscientific community should “stay tuned” for new developments.

Xona Microfluidics, LLC, a California limited liability company, with offices in Temecula, California and Research Triangle Park in Durham, North Carolina, holds the exclusive license from the University of California to produce and distribute the neuroscience related microfluidic devices covered by the above-referenced patents.

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