Automates Key Activities in Drug Discovery Labs
TUCSON, Ariz., Nov. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- Ventana Medical Systems, Inc.
(Nasdaq: VMSI), a leading company in supplying automated instrument reagent
systems to histology and drug discovery labs worldwide, today announced that
it launched its Discovery(TM) automated slide staining system in the North
American drug discovery market during IBC's annual biochip technology
conference, "Chips to Hits," held this week in Philadelphia.
"Automating key slide staining activities in drug discovery labs is an
exciting new market opportunity for Ventana," commented Christopher Gleeson,
Ventana's president and chief executive officer. "The market is expanding
rapidly as biotech and pharmaceutical companies race to identify gene function
and new drug targets. We launched the Discovery system in Japan in late 1999
and held off a formal launch in the North American market until we better
understood the dynamics of the market. We now believe the Discovery system is
well positioned to automate many of the manual activities involved in new drug
target and compound discovery," Gleeson added.
Hany Massarany, general manager of Ventana's recently formed Molecular
Discovery Systems Business, commented, "Automation offers drug discovery
customers many advantages over the manual methods currently in use in their
labs, including greater sensitivity, superior reproducibility, faster
turnaround time and labor savings." Massarany added, "The Discovery's high
throughput automation of in-situ hybridization (ISH) and immunohistochemistry
(IHC) slide staining position it as an ideal system for hybridizing nucleic
acid microarrays, confirming gene activity in tissue, identifying proteins
encoded by active genes, and evaluating the toxicity profile of new drug
compounds. In addition to the Discovery instrument, we will offer labs the
software protocols and chemistries they need for plug-and-play walk-away
automation."
Ventana recently announced the formation of the Molecular Discovery
Systems Business Division to exploit the company's ISH and IHC slide staining
technology in drug discovery laboratories. Massarany noted, "The division
will have its own direct sales force and life sciences R&D team. We are
initially targeting the hybridization of microarrays, which are used to
identify differential gene expressions between diseased and normal tissue, and
the confirmation of gene targets in tissue using messenger RNA analysis. The
decoding of the human genome has made both core activities for the
identification of new drug targets. Proteomics applications that utilize the
Discovery's IHC capabilities will be developed after these core ISH
applications."
Statements in this press release which are not strictly historical are
"forward-looking" statements that are made pursuant to the Safe Harbor
provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, which may cause
the company's actual results in the future to differ materially from the
expected results. The risks and uncertainties that may affect the results of
the company's business may include general economic conditions, market
acceptance of new automated histology products, continued success in asset
management and other factors that are described in the company's specific
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Ventana develops, manufactures and markets instrument/reagent systems that
automate tissue preparation and slide staining in clinical histology and drug
discovery laboratories worldwide. Ventana's clinical systems are important
tools used in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer and infectious diseases.
Ventana's drug discovery systems are used to accelerate the discovery of new
drug targets and evaluate the safety of new drug compounds.
For more information on Ventana Medical Systems, Inc. via facsimile at no
additional cost, Simply dial 800-PRO-INFO and enter the stock symbol "VMSI."
Or visit the Ventana Medical Systems, Inc. website at http://www.ventanamed.com .
The Molecular Discovery Systems Division has its own website at
http://www.ventanadiscovery.com .
SOURCE Ventana Medical Systems, Inc.
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Related links:
http://www.ventanamed.com
CONTACT:
Christopher Gleeson, President and Chief
Executive Officer of Ventana, 520-887-2155; Analyst, Kathy
Brunson, 312-640-6696, General, Marilyn Windsor, 312-640-6692,
Media, Cindy Martin, 312-266-7800, all of The Financial Relations
Board
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