Prodesse, Inc. and Invitrogen Collaborate on First Molecular Diagnostic LUX™ Products

Prodesse, Inc., a Wisconsin-based global leader in Multiplex PCR, and Invitrogen Corporation, a provider of essential life science technologies for disease research and drug discovery, today announced the signing of a license agreement for the first diagnostic assays with Invitrogen's LUX™ technology.

Utilizing Prodesse's global distribution capabilities the partnership positions Invitrogen's technologies in new market segments, serving a new customer base.

LUX™ (Light Upon eXtension) reagents are an essential starting point for a broad scope of drug discovery and molecular diagnostic applications including gene expression studies, biomarker analysis and functional genomics experiments. By providing improved sensitivity and specificity over traditional methods of analysis and the ability to examine multiple targets in one experiment, LUX™ was developed to meet the demanding needs of these varied applications.

"As we continue to rapidly increase our real-time products menu, access to Invitrogen's LUX™ platform is an important milestone," said Tom Shannon, President & CEO of Prodesse. "Now we can provide our customers with a technology that has significant design flexibility as well the tremendous advantage of conveying service rights that do not carry royalty burdens to end users."

"Invitrogen's partnership with Prodesse is a natural evolution of our proven technology platforms and allows us to better serve our customers through collaborations with innovative diagnostic providers," said Gregory T. Lucier, Chairman and CEO of Invitrogen Corporation. "Scientists in basic research and drug discovery and development have already found our LUX technology to produce more reliable data than many of the other quantitative PCR chemistries available. Our partnership will broaden the reach of this technology into clinical laboratories around the world."

Licensing and cost constraints have limited many companies in the molecular diagnostics market. Invitrogen's unique technologies enable companies like Prodesse to provide their customers with state-of-the-art molecular diagnostic products. Invitrogen's LUX™ technology, combined with SuperScript® III Reverse Transcriptase and the new Platinum® Tfi DNA Polymerase, provides a powerful and complete solution for assay development.

For additional information, please visit Prodesse at booth # 106 and Invitrogen at booth # 2071 and 2072 at the American Association of Clinical Chemistry (AACC) Annual Lab Expo July 23-26, 2006 in Chicago, IL. AACC is an international scientific/medical society of clinical laboratory professionals, physicians, research scientists and other individuals involved with clinical chemistry and related disciplines. Founded in 1948, the society has 10,000 members and is headquartered in Washington, DC.