Vacaville, California
February 3, 1999Biosource Technologies, Inc. (Biosource)
and Large Scale Biology Corporation (LSB) today jointly
announced the signing of a definitive agreement whereby Biosource will acquire privately
held LSB.
The combination creates the leading provider of next generation protein-based advanced
technologies for life science discovery and product development.
"The two companies' joint technologies raise the bar in life science industries
obsessively focused on genomics-based target discovery and product development,'' noted
Leigh Anderson, President and CEO of Large Scale Biology. "Protein expression, not
DNA sequence, provides the key to function in biology and thus will drive the next wave of
advanced drug development technologies.''
"Until recently, complex and laborious global protein analysis (''proteomics``) was
not thought to be capable of matching the scale of large DNA sequencing efforts'', said
Robert Erwin, CEO of
Biosource.
"Biosource, however, recognizes LSB's proprietary technology as offering the industry
unprecedented high-throughput, automated, large-scale protein expression analysis, thus
clearing a path to direct functional analysis of disease processes and drug effects. The
proteomics approach overcomes major uncertainties involved in extrapolation from mRNA
expression profiles, and allows a re-engineering of the drug development process based on
radically increased rates of capture of knowledge on biological mechanisms.''
Biosource will complement LSB's technology portfolio with its own proprietary technology
in
functional genomics, antigenics, and a world-class GMP bioprocessing facility for the
extraction of pharmaceutical-grade proteins from plants. The two companies' joint goal is
comprehensive
product-driven research.
Under the terms of the agreement, LSB will become an operating subsidiary of Biosource,
and remain under the leadership of Leigh Anderson, LSB founder, President and CEO. Under
its new name, Biosource Proteomics, LSB's facilities in Rockville, MD, will be expanded to
accommodate increased throughput and enlarged development efforts.
In addition to a broad technology base, the joined companies will leverage extensive
industry
relationships, including a pipeline of developing alliances with leading pharmaceutical
and vaccine
companies. The new company's list of disclosed research collaborations includes such
industry leaders as The Dow Chemical Company/Dow AgroSciences LLC, Genentech, F. Hoffman
La Roche, Eli Lilly, Novartis, Pfizer, Procter & Gamble, Rhone Poulenc-Rorer, and
SmithKline Beecham.
"There is strong synergy between our companies,'' said Leigh Anderson.`` Both
companies have
developed patented and proprietary technologies that focus on the realities of protein
rather than
inferences from mRNA and DNA. This perspective gives us a much better picture of what
actually
happens in commercially-important biology than is obtained from the classical approaches
of
genomics.''
"The joining of these two companies will allow us to accelerate the application of
Pharmaceutical
Proteomics to solving a broad range of life science challenges,'' commented Robert Erwin.
"Combining our technologies and people with LSB's outstanding organization will allow
us to quickly extend the proteomics platform in response to the key needs and bottlenecks
of life science companies''.
Biosource Technologies, Inc. is a fully integrated research-through-manufacturing
enterprise that
provides novel technologies to greatly improve the speed and productivity of life science
discovery
and product development programs. In September, Biosource announced a three-year
collaboration with The Dow Chemical Company and Dow AgroSciences to create one of the
world's largest plant functional genomic research programs dedicated to the discovery of
gene-based agricultural and chemical products. Biosource is headquartered in Vacaville, CA
with manufacturing facilities in Owensboro, KY. For more information about Biosource
Technologies, Inc. visit their web site at www.biosource-technologies.com.
Large Scale Biology Corp. (LSB) applies proteomics, databases and advanced bioinformatics
to the discovery and development of improved drugs, diagnostics and agricultural
chemicals. Major efforts include the Molecular Anatomy and Pathology (MAP(TM)) database,
describing the protein
composition of human cells and tissues and how these change in disease, and the Molecular
Effects of Drugs (MED(TM)) database, characterizing the effects of drugs and other
xenobiotics on protein expression. In addition, LSB conducts numerous collaborative
proteomics research projects with partners in the pharmaceutical, diagnostic and
biotechnology industries. Under its new name, Biosource Proteomics, LSB will continue to
make significant investments in development of proteomics technology, building on its
longstanding record of innovation in this area. For more information about LSB/Biosource
Proteomics, located in Rockville, MD, visit their website at www.lsbc.com.
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