GlaxoSmithKline Accelerates Research with BioTrove’s RapidFire® Mass Spectrometry System at Two Key U.S. R&D Sites

BioTrove, Inc. today announced the sale of two RapidFire® Mass Spectrometry (RF-MS) systems to GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), one of the world’s leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies, for installation and use at their R&D and drug discovery facilities in Upper Providence, PA and Research Triangle Park, NC.

The new high-throughput mass spectrometry systems are the latest additions to GSK’s RapidFire arsenal, with one system already in use at Sirtris Pharmaceuticals, acquired by GSK in 2008, in Cambridge, MA.

“With a recent re-focusing of our drug discovery efforts into a set of highly specific disease areas and exciting new drug target classes, we at GSK need timely, biologically relevant data to help move our research efforts forward, faster,” said Dr. Andrew Pope, Molecular Discovery Research, GlaxoSmithKline. “We look forward to utilizing RapidFire for label-free monitoring of native-substrate modifications by drug targets. This technology gives us a way to incorporate mass spectrometry into our existing high throughput workflow.”

The two new RapidFire systems will be used by the Molecular Discovery Research organization within GSK for hit identification, compound profiling and compound mechanism of action studies to support drug discovery research efforts in a wide range of therapeutic areas including oncology, immuno-inflammation, anti-infectives, metabolic and respiratory diseases.

The high-throughput RapidFire Mass Spectrometry system can screen intractable drug targets, as well as analyze in vitro ADME and drug-drug interaction (DDI) assays. For drug discovery applications, RapidFire produces label-free, biologically relevant data so that researchers can identify potential drug leads and eliminate compromised compounds before further investigation. At six to eight seconds per sample, the RapidFire-MS system significantly decreases processing time compared to conventional MS-based technologies, helping to eliminate the workflow bottlenecks in drug discovery.

“At BioTrove, we see ourselves as the engine driving tomorrow's pharmaceutical innovations,” said Can “Jon” Özbal, Ph.D., Vice President and General Manager, BioTrove RapidFire Business Unit. “By providing an enabling technology to a global leader in research-based pharmaceuticals such as GlaxoSmithKline, we are achieving our mission of helping new medicines get to patients who need them, faster.”

BioTrove will be present at the 57th American Society for Mass Spectrometry (ASMS) Conference on Mass Spectrometry in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, May 31 - June 4, 2009. Representatives will be available to discuss the RapidFire technology at booth #66 and Hospitality Suite J. More information on BioTrove’s ASMS activities and presentations is available via the company website link below.