DiscoveRx Corporation today announced a collaboration with Caliper Life Sciences, Inc. (Nasdaq:CALP) that enables functional cell-based G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) assays to be performed on Caliper LabChip® platforms. The combined offering bundles the DiscoveRx’s cellular assays (such as PathHunter™ ß Arrestin and cAMP Hunter™) with LabChip systems to help pharmaceutical and biotechnology researchers more efficiently discover GPCR drugs.
“PathHunter™ ß-Arrestin assays, HitHunter™ cAMP detection and now cAMP Hunter™ cell lines are all being successfully adopted by leading pharmaceutical companies in their GPCR screening campaigns. Our partnership with Caliper will enable the use of these highly successful cell-based GPCR assays on Caliper’s microfluidic technology platform thereby providing a powerful comprehensive suite of solutions for Caliper’s EZ Reader and kinase profiling customers,” said Dr. Pyare Khanna, CEO of DiscoveRx Corporation. “Together we are meeting the demand for GPCR and Kinase lead optimization and profiling.”
“This collaboration will expand the capability of Caliper’s LabChip® technology into the dynamic GPCR drug discovery market, an opportunity with substantial potential due to the importance of GPCR drugs and the number of active R&D programs in neuroscience, cardiovascular, inflammation and other disease areas. Through our collaboration with DiscoveRx, we have expanded our offerings to provide researchers with the ability to prosecute GPCR targets in a functional cellular assay for lead optimization and profiling,” said Kevin Hrusovsky, CEO of Caliper Life Sciences. “Caliper’s LabChip platform has become the new standard for kinase assays and we have broadened the platform to enable testing of phosphodiesterases, histone deacetylases (including sirtuins) proteases, phophatases and lipid modifying enzymes. The addition of cellular GPCR assays, which are a critical linkage in translational research, expands Caliper’s in vitro-in vivo bridge and should provide our customers with enhanced ability to make more informed decisions that ultimately lead to safer and more effective drugs.”
Caliper’s LabChip instruments — the LabChip® 3000 and LabChip® EZ Reader series — which have been adopted by 17 of the top 20 pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, utilize proprietary microfluidic separation and direct detection of both substrates and products to generate high quality results. This robust, easy-to-use platform, combined with DiscoveRx’s innovative ß-Galactosidase Enzyme Fragment Complementation (EFC) approach for cellular GPCR assays, should provide researchers with the ability to perform more clinically relevant cellular-based assays.
About DiscoveRx Inc.
Founded in 2000, DiscoveRx is a privately held, venture-backed company headquartered in Fremont, California, with an additional office in Birmingham, England. The Company pioneered the use of ß-Galactosidase enzyme fragment complementation in biochemical and cell based assays for discovery research, and holds extensive intellectual property in this area. DiscoveRx is dedicated to the development and commercialization of innovative solutions to study GPCRs, Kinases and other major drug target classes, and many of their innovative products have been widely adopted in pharmaceutical and biotech drug screening laboratories worldwide. Please visit www.discoverx.com to get additional information regarding DiscoveRx products. For more information regarding this press release and for other collaborative opportunities, please contact Sailaja Kuchibhatla, Sr. Vice President, Business Development skuchibhatla@discoverx.com
About Caliper Life Sciences
Caliper Life Sciences is a premier provider of cutting-edge technologies enabling researchers in the life sciences industry to create life-saving and enhancing medicines and diagnostic tests more quickly and efficiently. Caliper is aggressively innovating new technology to bridge the gap between in vitro assays and in vivo results and then translating those results into cures for human disease. Caliper's portfolio of offerings includes state-of-the-art microfluidics, lab automation & liquid handling, optical imaging technologies, and discovery & development outsourcing solutions. For more information please visit http://www.caliperLS.com.
Caliper, LabChip, and EZ Reader are registered trademarks of Caliper Life Sciences, Inc.
DiscoveRx, is a registered trademark of DiscoveRx Corporation. PathHunter, HitHunter and cAMP Hunter are trademarks of DiscoveRx.
DiscoveRx Corporation
Theresa Schaub, 951-663-1143
Director of
Drug Discovery Services
tschaub@discoverx.com
