BG Medicine and Applied Biosystems to Collaborate on Molecular Medicine Research.Integration of State-of-the-Art Technology, Chemistry and Software into Systems Pharmacology pharmacology, study of the changes produced in living animals by chemical substances, especially the actions of drugs, substances used to treat disease. Systematic investigation of the effects of drugs based on animal experimentation and the use of isolated and Platforms Aims to Strengthen Biomarker-Guided Drug Development Initiatives WALTHAM, Mass. and FOSTER CITY, Calif. -- BG Medicine Inc. and Applied Biosystems Applied Biosystems, Inc. (formerly NASDAQ: ABIO) is the original name of a pioneer biotechnology company founded in 1981 in Foster City, California, among the Silicon Valley cities of the southern San Francisco Bay Area. Group (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange : ABI Abi (ā`bī) [short for Abijah], in the Bible, King Hezekiah's mother. (Application Binary Interface) A specification for a specific hardware platform combined with the operating system. ), an Applera Corporation business, today announced that the companies have entered into a collaboration agreement in which they will work together to enhance biomarker discovery Biomarker discovery is the process by which biomarkers are discovered. It is a medical term. Many commonly used blood tests in medicine are biomarkers. The way that these tests have been found can be seen as biomarker discovery. and development. Under the terms of the agreement, BG Medicine will integrate life science technology from Applied Biosystems into its proteomic and metabolomic systems pharmacology workflows and begin to explore applications for Applied Biosystems' genomic genomic pertaining to a genome. genomic clone see clone. genomic DNA the DNA sequences making up the genome of an individual. genomic library see gene bank. tools. The technology will be employed in several strategic initiatives and proprietary programs at BG Medicine over the next two years. As part of this collaboration, Applied Biosystems is expected to be able to evaluate how its technology fits into emerging high-throughput platforms and how it supports the evolving requirements of customers in this field. Molecular medicine combines medical studies with biochemistry biochemistry, science concerned chiefly with the chemistry of biological processes; it attempts to utilize the tools and concepts of chemistry, particularly organic and physical chemistry, for elucidation of the living system. . It involves the study of proteins, metabolites Metabolites Substances produced by metabolism or by a metabolic process. Mentioned in: Interactions and gene expression to better understand the effects of diseases and the potential effectiveness of new treatments. The use of biomarkers offers knowledge about the presence of disease and the role of the biological indicators to improve drug development, early detection of disease, treatment selection and early detection of treatment response. "With the rapid emergence of molecular medicine and biomarker-guided drug development initiatives, there is an explosive demand for biomarker discovery and validation research as well as the platforms that will deliver these biomarkers to the market," said Pieter Muntendam, MD, President and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. of BG Medicine. "This broad collaboration with Applied Biosystems should allow us to jointly make important contributions to this new medical and drug development research." BG Medicine's systems pharmacology approach enables molecular characterization of disease states and drug responses, helping global pharmaceutical companies to make critical R&D decisions. BG Medicine has been steadily scaling up its platforms over the last six years to establish unprecedented levels of biomarker discovery. BG Medicine has also validated and implemented Applied Biosystems' proteomic biomarker discovery tools - including Applied Biosystems/MDS SCIEX's mass spectrometers, software and Applied Biosystems' iTRAQ[TM] reagents - over the past two years in an industrial setting. The industrialization industrialization Process of converting to a socioeconomic order in which industry is dominant. The changes that took place in Britain during the Industrial Revolution of the late 18th and 19th century led the way for the early industrializing nations of western Europe and of biomarker discovery and validation is a new development that is expected to help advance proteomics, in conjunction with metabolomics and genomics. "Making biomarkers, proteomics, genomics and metabolomics more relevant and applicable on a wider scale in scientific and medical studies can help transform the processes of drug discovery and development," said Laura Lauman, president for Applied Biosystems' proteomics and small molecule division. "By gaining greater statistical confidence in the biological interpretation of results through the use of leading-edge technologies, scientists can further explore the use of biomarkers to unlock more effective ways to treat different diseases." About BG Medicine BG Medicine develops and operates the industry's only integrated, high-throughput, research platform to measure and understand biological changes of drug and disease effects within intact systems. The company's proprietary method of generating and integrating multiple analytical platform data including proteomics and metabolomics with powerful bioinformatics and computational analysis enables BG Medicine to discover and qualify biomarkers and characterize molecular mechanisms of action. BG Medicine applies its capabilities for third-party funded research and internal molecular diagnostic discovery. For more information about BG Medicine please visit www.bg-medicine.com. About Applera Corporation and Applied Biosystems Applera Corporation consists of two operating groups. The Applied Biosystems Group serves the life science industry and research community by developing and marketing instrument-based systems, consumables, software, and services. Customers use these tools to analyze nucleic acids Nucleic acids The cellular molecules DNA and RNA that act as coded instructions for the production of proteins and are copied for transmission of inherited traits. (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. and RNA RNA: see nucleic acid. RNA in full ribonucleic acid One of the two main types of nucleic acid (the other being DNA), which functions in cellular protein synthesis in all living cells and replaces DNA as the carrier of genetic ), small molecules, and proteins to make scientific discoveries and develop new pharmaceuticals. Applied Biosystems' products also serve the needs of some markets outside of life science research, which we refer to as "applied markets," such as the fields of: human identity testing (forensic and paternity testing paternity testing see parentage testing. ); biosecurity, which refers to products needed in response to the threat of biological terrorism Noun 1. biological terrorism - terrorism using the weapons of biological warfare bioterrorism act of terrorism, terrorism, terrorist act - the calculated use of violence (or the threat of violence) against civilians in order to attain goals that are and other malicious, accidental, and natural biological dangers; and quality and safety testing, for example in food and the environment. Applied Biosystems is headquartered in Foster City, CA, and reported sales of $1.9 billion during fiscal 2006. The Celera Group is primarily a molecular diagnostics business that is using proprietary genomics and proteomics discovery platforms to identify and validate novel diagnostic markers, and is developing diagnostic products based on these markers as well as other known markers. Celera maintains a strategic alliance with Abbott for the development and commercialization of molecular, or nucleic acid-based, diagnostic products, and it is also developing new diagnostic products outside of this alliance. Through its genomics and proteomics research efforts, Celera is also discovering and validating therapeutic targets, and it is seeking strategic partnerships to develop therapeutic products based on these discovered targets. Information about Applera Corporation, including reports and other information filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission, is available at http://www.applera.com, or by telephoning 800.762.6923. Information about Applied Biosystems is available at http://www.appliedbiosystems.com. Applied Biosystems Forward Looking Statements Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking. These may be identified by the use of forward-looking words or phrases such as "should," "expect," and "planned," among others. These forward-looking statements forward-looking statement A projected financial statement based on management expectations. A forward-looking statement involves risks with regard to the accuracy of assumptions underlying the projections. are based on Applera Corporation's current expectations. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PSLRA) implemented several significant substantive changes affecting certain cases brought under the federal securities laws, including changes related to pleading, discovery, liability, class representation and awards fees and of 1995 provides a "safe harbor Safe Harbor 1. A legal provision to reduce or eliminate liability as long as good faith is demonstrated. 2. A form of shark repellent implemented by a target company acquiring a business that is so poorly regulated that the target itself is less attractive. " for such forward-looking statements. In order to comply with the terms of the safe harbor, Applera Corporation notes that a variety of factors could cause actual results and experience to differ materially from the anticipated results or other expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements. These factors include but are not limited to: (1) the collaboration may not proceed as expected or result in any new products; (2) rapidly changing technology and dependence on the development and customer acceptance of new products (3) other factors that might be described from time to time in Applera Corporation's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All information in this press release is as of the date of the release, and Applera does not undertake any duty to update this information, including any forward-looking statements, unless required by law. For Research Use Only. Not for use in diagnostic procedures. Applera, Applied Biosystems, AB (design) and Celera are registered trademarks and iTRAQ is a trademark of Applera Corporation or its subsidiaries in the US and/or certain other countries. |
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