Acacia Research Subsidiary Completes $4 Million Private Equity Financing.PASADENA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--August 10, 1999-- Acacia Research Corporation (Nasdaq/NMS: ACRI) announced today that its subsidiary, CombiMatrix Corporation, has completed a $4 million private equity financing Equity Financing The act of raising money for company activities by selling common or preferred stock to individual or institutional investors. In return for the money paid, shareholders receive ownership interests in the corporation. . Acacia Research participated in the financing and holds a 53% ownership position. CombiMatrix is developing a unique biochip biochip Small-scale device, analogous to an integrated circuit, constructed of or used to analyze organic molecules associated with living organisms. One type of theoretical biochip is a small device constructed of large organic molecules, such as proteins, and capable of system to offer significant advantages over current products on the market. The rapid acceptance of these new products for genetic research has been evidenced by strong demand from the medical research industry for products from companies including Affymetrix (AFFX), Millennium (MLNM), and Incyte (INCY). The explosion of genomic information in the past few years has spurred the development of new technologies for DNA analysis DNA analysis Any technique used to analyze genes and DNA. See Chromosome walking, DNA fingerprinting, Footprinting, In situ hybridization, Jeffries' probe, Jumping libraries, PCR, RFLP analysis, Southern blot hybridization. . Biochips have emerged as the fastest and most efficient DNA analysis technique, giving researchers the ability to perform hundreds of DNA tests on a sample of genetic material at one time. These genomic tests are being used to discover new disease targets and treatments in the medical industry. CombiMatrix's biochips are inexpensively produced on existing semiconductor fabrication lines, eliminating the need for expensive photomasks and robots as well as reducing the investment in capital equipment and clean rooms at the company. The CombiMatrix biochip system integrates the miniaturization min·i·a·tur·ize tr.v. min·i·a·tur·ized, min·i·a·tur·iz·ing, min·i·a·tur·iz·es To plan or make on a greatly reduced scale. min of semiconductors with new developments in biotechnology and chemistry. The company's core technology utilizes a unique buffering system to create "virtual reactors" -- tiny chemical flasks the size of a human hair that are separated from each other without glass walls. The CombiMatrix technology synthesizes DNA DNA: see nucleic acid. DNA or deoxyribonucleic acid One of two types of nucleic acid (the other is RNA); a complex organic compound found in all living cells and many viruses. It is the chemical substance of genes. , peptides and other chemicals in these miniaturized electrochemical electrochemical /elec·tro·chem·i·cal/ (-kem´i-k'l) pertaining to interaction or interconversion of chemical and electrical energies. e·lec·tro·chem·i·cal adj. flasks on a tiny semiconductor chip. CombiMatrix has received a Notice of Allowance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for the core patent on its novel biochip and was recently awarded a Phase I SBIR SBIR Small Business Innovation Research (program/grant) SBIR Space Based Infra-Red SBIR Speaker-Boundary Interference SBIR Site Backsurface-referenced Ideal Plane/Range (silicon wafers) contract from the Department of Energy to develop microarrays and a similar contract from the Department of Defense to develop nanode array sensor microchips. For more information regarding CombiMatrix, please visit Acacia Research's web site at http://www.acaciaresearch.com. The News section contains the CombiMatrix presentation from the recent Acacia Research Annual Shareholders Meeting. Acacia Research Corporation is a diversified company diversified company A company engaged in varied business operations not directly related to one another. A diversified company is less likely to suffer either a collapse or a spectacular gain in earnings compared with a firm concentrating its operations in a with interests in several enterprises - CombiMatrix Corporation (biochips/drug discovery technology), Greenwich Information Technologies LLC (Logical Link Control) See "LANs" under data link protocol. LLC - Logical Link Control (video and audio-on-demand technology), MerkWerks Corporation (software development), Signature-mail.com llc (personalized e-mail service), Soundbreak.com Incorporated (Internet music and e-commerce), Soundview Technologies Incorporated (V-chip technology), Whitewing Labs, Inc. (marketer of nutritional supplements), and Acacia Capital Management (investment advisory services). |
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