Prodesse joins forces with Invitrogen

Waukesha, Wis. - A product for molecular diagnostics and drug discovery is expanding into new market segments, thanks to the global distribution capability of Prodesse, Inc., a biotechnology firm based here.

As part of a new license agreement, Prodesse will add to its offerings the first diagnostic assays with light upon extension (LUX) technology from the Carlsbad, Calif.-based Invitrogen Corp.

Prodesse, a developer of multiplex polymerase chain-reaction technologies, develops assays for detecting infectious disease pathogens and currently sells its reagents, covering 33 different organisms and usable on multiple-detection platforms, to laboratories throughout the world.

The agreement provides for the incorporation of LUX into Prodesse reagents as a different way to label primer sets.

"It enables us to do melt curves," said Andy Shrago, chief marketing officer for Prodesse. To discriminate detections, researchers can measure characteristics on melt curves by heating molecules colored with specialized dyes, Shrago explained.

"Its also simply a cost advantage over other technologies." he added. "It offers more design flexibility and the royalty burden is less."

LUX reagents can be used as a starting point for a variety of applications, including gene expression studies, biomarker analysis, and functional genomics experiments. The advantage of LUX, according to Invitrogen, is in its improved sensitivity and specificity over traditional methods of analysis, and its ability to examine multiple targets in one experiment.

"Scientists in basic research and drug discovery have already found our LUX technology to produce more reliable data than many of the other quantitative PCR chemistries available," Gregory Lucier, chairman and CEO of Invitrogen, said in a statement.

Invitrogen, which reports $1.2 billion in annual revenue, produces a number of life science products, including antibodies, bioinformatics software, and gene expression tools.

Prodesse was founded to commercialize a patented methodology first developed by researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin and licensed to Prodesse.

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