EMD Licenses Luminex Technology to Develop Assays for the xMAP Platform

The Novagen brand of EMD Chemicals (EMD), a subsidiary of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany (Merck), announced today that it has obtained a license from the Luminex Corporation to develop immunoassays for the xMAP^® Technology platform.

EMD/Merck is engaged in the development, manufacture and distribution of a broad array of research tools used for life science research and will create multiplex immunoassays using xMAP Technology to meet the evolving needs of drug discovery and cell signalling researchers.

“The advantages of multiplex protein analysis are well established,” said Lisa Johnson, Vice President Corporate Development with EMD. “The Luminex^® xMAP platform has been instrumental in broadening the adoption of multiplex analysis. The ability to simultaneously perform several assays on one sample in a single reaction results in considerable savings of both time and precious sample, and dramatically reduces reagent and labor costs.”

EMD has assembled the Novagen^® WideScreen™ Group, an international interdisciplinary team of assay-development scientists to construct the next generation of multiplex immunoassays. After extensive R&D, the first highly validated assay panels developed by the group will be available globally in December 2007 through the international sales and distribution network of the EMD/Merck group under the Novagen brand name.

Johnson continued: “Combining key technologies licensed from Luminex and other partners enables the WideScreen Group to develop new bead-based assays to accelerate the drug discovery process, including the first truly quantitative multiplex assays for phosphorylated signaling proteins.”

Initially, EMD will focus on creating assays that detect the phosphorylation status of key proteins in disease-related signaling pathways. These assays will enable researchers to determine the effect of candidate compounds on multiple pathways, to allow a better understanding of on- and off-target effects.