Fluidigm-Singapore Completes Final Milestone Toward Full Manufacturing Operations; Off-Shore Fab Positions Fluidigm to Move Rapidly Into the Real-Time qPCR Market.

SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. -- Fluidigm Corporation has announced that its Singapore-based manufacturing facility has ramped up to full process R&D and manufacturing operations, less than a year after opening its doors. The rapid startup boosts the Company's entry into the billion dollar real-time qPCR market, enabling production of BioMark(TM) dynamic arrays to supply high-end users. These unique biochips increase qPCR efficiency by orders of magnitude and may replace microwell plates as the industry standard of the future.

"We view our Singapore operation as critical to our long-term success," said Fluidigm CEO Gajus Worthington. "This group has proven its mettle with production of our first product, TOPAZ(R) screening chips. Now, we are poised for high-volume, low-cost manufacturing to meet the demand in a much larger market." Manufacturing engineers at corporate headquarters in South San Francisco collaborated with the Singapore team to bring the facility up to speed. The off-shore strategy takes advantage of Singapore's high-quality talent, which is a legacy of its semiconductor industry.

BioMark dynamic arrays are a class of chips known generally as integrated fluidic circuits (IFCs). IFCs are fabricated using lithographic processes akin to those for integrated electronic circuits, of silicon, but IFCs are made of a rubber-like material and incorporate tens of thousands of microscopic channels, chambers, vias, and valves for nanofluidics.

In 2003, Fluidigm launched the TOPAZ protein crystallization system, which streamlines the process of determining protein structure and drug design. The company is currently introducing the BioMark system, which leverages the unmatched efficiencies of IFCs to study genetic and protein biomarkers related to various medical conditions. Other chips under development address multi-step processes on a nanovolume scale, including synthesis of imaging probes used in positron emission tomography and the preparation of nucleic acids for analysis.

About Fluidigm

Fluidigm Corporation develops and distributes systems based on the unique properties of integrated fluidic circuits (IFCs) to precisely control fluids on a nano-volume scale. The company's vision is to create and to lead a new industry in which IFCs bring unparalleled efficiencies to the life science and allied fields. Based in South San Francisco, California, the Company is privately held and backed by premier investors: Versant Ventures, Euclid SR Partners, InterWest Partners, Alloy Ventures, Lehman Brothers Healthcare Fund, the Singapore EDB, Bruce Burrows, Lilly BioVentures, the Invus Group, SightLine Partners, AllianceBernstein and GE Equity.