TTP LabTech has been granted a licence for the application of resonant acoustic profiling technology incorporated in the Rapid 4 instrument in the areas of drug discovery and life sciences
As part of the wider deal with by Inverness Medical Switzerland (which is part of the Inverness Medical Innovations group of companies), TTP LabTech has also acquired the design, manufacturing, and marketing rights to the Rapid 4 instrument, together with associated sensors and consumables, from Akubio .
Resonant acoustic profiling (Rap) is based on resonant quartz sensor technology optimised for the detection of molecular interactions.
By directly detecting molecules bound to the surface of a quartz crystal, the system enables concentration measurement and analysis of the binding events between specific molecules in complex samples that may contain solvents, serum, growth media or other impurities.
Currently, few technologies offer life scientists the ability to detect real-time kinetic data of this quality across such a broad range of samples, sample purity and sample concentrations.
Rapid 4 is a flow-based analysis system which reduces the need to purify samples and generates accurate kinetic, affinity and concentration measurements from complex mixtures, such as blood, serum, cell culture supernatants and periplasmic extracts.
A stand-alone, fully automated platform, Rapid 4 requires minimal user intervention and is controlled via user-friendly software, typically processing an average of 400 samples per day.
Says Philip Blenkinsop, managing director of TTP LabTech: "We are tremendously excited by the opportunities that this deal presents us with.
"Rap technology is highly complementary to our current Acumen range of fluorescence-based assay platforms and will enable our customers, both existing and new, to perform label-free interaction analysis on their development drugs.
"We also plan to use the technology to address markets which are new to us such as biotherapeutic development and protein expression analysis".
Commented Matt Cooper, managing director of Cambridge Medical Innovations (formerly part of Akubio and now a subsidiary of Inverness Medical Innovations): "TTP LabTech has a solid track record in the development and support of novel instrumentation for life sciences and drug discovery and is well positioned to commercialise the Rapid 4 technology for these purposes, while at Cambridge and Inverness we continue to focus on our core missions of launching diagnostic products and the management of human health"
