Biosearch Technologies Acquires Worldwide Rights to Non-FRET Probes Patents

NOVATO, CA (Wednesday, February 29th, 2012) – Biosearch Technologies, Inc. (Biosearch), a leading supplier of sophisticated oligonucleotide components to the rapidly growing molecular diagnostics industry, today announced that the company has acquired worldwide rights from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) to United States Patent 6,150,097, titled “Nucleic Acid Detection Probes Having Non-FRET Fluorescence Quenching and Kits and Assays Including Such Probes,” as well as counterpart patents in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, and Japan, that disclose and claim, inter alia, probes having quenchers and fluorophores that are not FRET pairs, as well as their use. In addition, Biosearch has acquired rights to sublicense the non-FRET probes patents to companies that may wish to commercialize current and future non-FRET probe-based products.

Marc Beal, Director of Corporate Development at Biosearch Technologies, comments, “Biosearch is dedicated to the science and mechanisms of fluorescent quenching along with a daily pursuit for delivering highly multiplexed fluorescent probe solutions. FRET-based probes have a limited and finite mastery of the visible spectrum accessed by the current thermocycler manufacturers and probe suppliers. The UMDNJ non-FRET probe patents will enable Biosearch to design and market new fluorescent quenched probes for quantitative PCR and highly multiplexed fluorescent probe applications. We are very excited to be working with UMDNJ as we again prepare to move the qPCR probe marketplace forward as we did with Black Hole Quencher® (BHQ®) series of dyes in 2000.”

"Although it had been thought that fluorophore-quencher pairs for labeling molecular probes need to interact with each other by fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET), a mechanism that restricts the choice of labels to only a few available pairs that interact with each other when separated by a short distance, the non-FRET probes patents licensed by Biosearch show how non-FRET label pairs that interact by forming transient chemical bonds upon contact with each other, enable a wide variety of differently colored fluorophores to be used in combination with many non-fluorescent quenchers (including novel quenchers that are designed to interact in this manner), and the resulting non-FRET probes have found widespread use in multiplex molecular diagnostic assays," says Fred Russell Kramer, co-inventor of non-FRET probes technology.

Vincent Smeraglia, Director of the UMDNJ Office of Technology Transfer & Business Development stated, "The University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey is extremely pleased to expand and bolster our successful ongoing relationship with Biosearch Technologies and announce this new licensing partnership. UMDNJ is confident that Biosearch Technologies, a central player in the probes synthesis market, is the ideal partner to enable adoption of non-FRET probes technology for a wide variety of uses in biomedical applications."

About UMDNJ and UMDNJ’s Office of Technology Transfer & Business Development

The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) is the nation's largest free-standing public health sciences university with more than 6,000 students attending the state's three medical schools, its only dental school, a graduate school of biomedical sciences, a school of health related professions, a school of nursing and its only school of public health on five campuses. Annually, there are more than two million patient visits at UMDNJ facilities and faculty practices at campuses in Newark, New Brunswick/Piscataway, Scotch Plains, Camden and Stratford. UMDNJ operates University Hospital, a Level I Trauma Center in Newark, and University Behavioral HealthCare, which provides a continuum of healthcare services with multiple locations throughout the state. UMDNJ’s Office of Technology Transfer & Business Development is the entity responsible for commercialization of UMDNJ’s intellectual property. The office works in partnership with UMDNJ faculty to identify, develop and commercialize promising academic discoveries.

For additional information about UMDNJ please visit www.umdnj.edu.

About Biosearch Technologies, Inc.

Biosearch Technologies, Inc. is a privately held, ISO 9001:2008 certified company, located in northern California. Founded in 1993, Biosearch is a leader in the design, development and manufacture of sophisticated oligonucleotide-based tools. Products include fluorophores (CAL Fluor®, Quasar® and Pulsar® dyes) and dark quenchers (Black Hole Quencher® dyes) to be included in custom-synthesized probe formats for real-time, quantitative PCR, Stellaris RNA FISH, and other genomic-based applications.

In addition to basic R&D applications, Biosearch now leverages its demonstrated expertise in fully assembled RUO kits and in the cGMP manufacture of oligonucleotide components for molecular diagnostic assays. Biosearch Technologies is registered with the FDA (registration number 300300905), and licensed by the State of California Department of Public Health (license number 55563) as a medical device manufacturer. As such, its GMP and Commercial Services manufacturing processes conform to all applicable cGMP requirements per21 CFR Part 820. Biosearch’s markets include pharmaceutical, in vitro diagnostic, biotechnology, ag/bio, environmental and food testing, public health, and biodefense sectors.

For additional information about Biosearch Technologies, Inc., contact info@biosearchtech.com or visit www.biosearchtech.com.