SANTA CLARA, Calif. & AUSTIN, Texas -- Affymetrix Inc. (NASDAQ:AFFX) and Asuragen Inc., a leading molecular biology diagnostic company and service provider, today announced an agreement to license, develop and manufacture in vitro transcription (IVT) reagent kits for clinical molecular diagnostic applications.
The new IVT reagent kits developed and manufactured by Asuragen will enable Affymetrix to deliver a complete solution to its molecular diagnostic partners. The products will be optimally designed for clinical use and will be configured for use with the GeneChip® System 3000Dx. This is the only available diagnostic microarray platform that has earned 510(k) clearance from the United States Food and Drug Administration and the CE mark from the European Union.
“We are pleased to work with a leading diagnostic reagent provider like Asuragen,” said Kevin King, president of Affymetrix. “The Asuragen IVT reagent kit will strengthen our growing diagnostic product portfolio.”
“Affymetrix offers a continuous path to discover, develop and commercialize biomarker signature assays,” said Matt Winkler, chief executive officer and chief scientific officer of Asuragen. “These new reagent kits will facilitate more adoption of Affymetrix microarray technology by significantly improving workflow in the clinical diagnostic laboratory.”
Affymetrix is partnering with the world’s leading diagnostic companies through the Powered by Affymetrix™ (PbA) Program to bring to market new diagnostic tests that employ the latest genomic discoveries. There are currently more than 20 different molecular assay tests based on the Affymetrix platform under development by Affymetrix and its 11 PbA Partners. The resulting microarray-based tests will enable clinicians to provide more efficient and complete methods to diagnose, classify and manage patients suffering from complex diseases like cancer.
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