Invitrogen strengthens DNA/RNA purification product line with acquisition of DNA Research Innovations, Ltd.

29-Oct-2004

Invitrogen Corporation announced it has acquired DNA Research Innovations, Ltd. (DRI), a privately-held company based in Kent, England, that develops and markets innovative products for the purification of DNA and other nucleic acids. According to the terms of the deal, Invitrogen paid $35 million in cash, and may be obliged to pay contingent payments of up to $30 million based upon the completion of certain R & D milestones. The deal is not expected to change Invitrogen's guidance for the fourth quarter of 2004.

DRI's technology can be used with either DNA or RNA in a range of formats, and includes simple manual purification of a few samples as well as high throughput automated applications. It requires just three simple steps to extract nucleic acids from a wide variety of sources, including bacteria, tissues, blood, forensic sample and buccal cells. CST can be applied to many surfaces, including magnetic beads, microtiter plates, columns and cartridges and Invitrogen expects that this could result in the development of novel, tailor-made purification strategies. Unlike other DNA/RNA purification methods, CST does not need hazardous or caustic chemicals, which are known to compromise the efficiency of many downstream processes such as PCR and their absence in CST-based protocols can offer significant performance benefits.

"As the starting point for much of today's biomedical R&D, nucleic acid purification is a critically important segment where we intend to offer our customers the best technology available," said Gregory T. Lucier, Invitrogen's Chairman and CEO. "We believe the advantages of ChargeSwitch Technology will provide researchers with a compelling reason to start their projects using Invitrogen products, and the benefits of our optimized and integrated suite of leading research technologies will give them equally compelling reasons to stay. Acquisition of this versatile technology is another step in our ongoing campaign to reinforce our position as the global research partner of choice, to accelerate drug discovery and development."

DRI is currently selling a number of purification kits in the U.K. and has a pipeline of additional products scheduled for release in the future. Automation is available on a Tecan platform, with additional automation options by other instrument providers in development. The CST technology, when combined with other nucleic acid purification products internally developed by Invitrogen over the last 18 months, will now provide customers with a compelling choice in the market for their research and molecular diagnostic needs.

"The breakthrough capabilities of our CST technology make Invitrogen a natural partner for DRI," said Dr. Simon Douglas, Chief Executive Officer of DRI. "Likewise, Invitrogen has the resources to provide the marketing, distribution and technical assistance needed to make our reagent kits widely accessible to researchers around the world."

https://www.bionity.com/en/news/40553/invitrogen-strengthens-dna-rna-purification-product-line-with-acquisition-of-dna-research-innovations-ltd.html