BioTrove Launches Enabling Drug-Drug Interaction Applications for RapidFire(TM) Drug Discovery Platform.

Established RapidFire Technology Accelerates "Total Throughput" of Drug Discovery, Lead Optimization Projects

Executives On-Site at ASMS Conference to Discuss Capabilities, June 3-7

WOBURN, Mass. -- BioTrove, Inc. today announced the release of a fully-validated suite of twelve cytochrome P450 inhibition assays for performing drug-drug interaction (DDI) assays on the RapidFire Mass Spectrometry platform (RF-MS). With throughputs approaching fluorescence- or radioactivity-based methods (3500 data points per eight-hour shift on a single instrument), and full compatibility with liver microsome preparations, the RapidFire P450 inhibition assay platform enables researchers to advance lead optimization with highly accurate mass spectrometric data.

"The desire to shift lead optimization assays, including the P450 inhibition assay, earlier in the drug discovery process is a growing industry trend - and it creates a demand for greater throughput without a compromise in data quality," said Can Ozbal, Senior Director, RapidFire, BioTrove. "The throughput of the RapidFire P450 inhibition assay system provides researchers a real breakthrough in productivity compared to traditional high-performance mass spectrometric systems. While workflow remains unchanged, assay throughput increases 10- to 100-fold - enabling researchers to significantly increase DDI information obtained and analyzed without increasing workload," he added.

With a capacity of up to 18 standard 96 or 384-well microtiter plates of P450 inhibition assays, the RapidFire system works with any commercially available triple-quadruple mass spectrometer for walk-away analysis. Following a fully integrated and automated on-line sample purification and mass spectrometric data acquisition, custom RapidFire Integrator software facilitates the analysis of thousands of samples in a single step, outputting the data in a flexible format ready for import into databases. Because the RapidFire system does not require a dedicated mass spectrometer, and consumes a minimal amount of solvent per sample analyzed, operational costs are greatly reduced.

"Today, companies and researchers are focusing on 'high throughput' as a means to make drug discovery faster and more effective - but what does that mean? High throughput should not only increase the manageable volume of daily lab work, but the entire process required to efficiently move a compound through the pipeline while assessing potency and side effects," said Al Luderer, Ph.D., president and CEO of BioTrove. "The process of drug discovery is only as fast as its slowest step. RapidFire technology enables our clients to accelerate throughput at multiple steps of the discovery process, from the successful identification of lead compounds against challenging targets, to lead optimization with our new DDI application."

For more information on RapidFire solutions for lead discovery and DDI analysis, please visit BioTrove at Booth #217 at the 55th ASMS Conference on Mass Spectrometry, June 3-7 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

About BioTrove, Inc.

BioTrove, Inc. offers two innovative technology platforms: RapidFire[TM], which enables the acceleration of drug discovery and pipeline decisions, and OpenArray[TM], which advances genomic research in a wide range of life science fields, including agriculture, disease research, bio-defense, and public health. With more than half of the world's ten largest pharmaceutical companies as clients, and partnerships with prestigious research and public health centers around the world, BioTrove's products and services ensure that an industry committed to accuracy and speed can meet business goals.

RapidFire[TM] Mass Spectrometry (RFMS) uses an innovative microfluidic technology to facilitate analysis at faster than 10 seconds per sample, eliminating the bottleneck created by traditional mass spectrometry throughput. RFMS is routinely used in many applications including the high-throughput screening of previously intractable drug targets, cytochrome P450 inhibition and other ADME assays and directed evolution studies.

The OpenArray[TM] Platform enables genomics researchers to generate SNP and real time qPCR data in the hundreds of thousands of data points per day, significantly increasing the number of samples analyzed while significantly decreasing the time and cost required. The flexible format and nanoliter scale of the OpenArray[TM] system allows for easy adjustment of sample and assay numbers, achieving economical, high-throughput genomics.