Additional Incyte Genomics patents consolidate Agilent Technologies' intellectual property portfolio for production of printed custom and catalogue DNA microarrays
Agilent Technologies and Incyte Genomics have announced a comprehensive licensing agreement that gives Agilent access to Incyte's key microarray and gene expression patents and strengthens Agilent's position as a major manufacturer of printed DNA microarrays.
Included in the agreement are licenses to the nucleic acid linear amplification patents of Eberwine, Van Gelder, Wang and others.
Also included are the patent portfolio of Shalon and Brown covering DNA microarrays, their manufacture and use, and the Augenlicht patent covering the use of gene expression arrays in cancer research and diagnosis.
Additionally, Incyte has exclusively licensed Agilent under its comprehensive patent portfolio covering inkjet array manufacture.
This portfolio includes the inventions of Gamble, Theriault, Baldeschwieler and Winder for in-situ synthesis of nucleic acid microarrays and adds to the considerable inkjet patent portfolio of Agilent, which also includes licenses to Hewlett-Packard and Canon inkjet intellectual property.
The exclusive license of Incyte's inkjet patent portfolio and the license to the Shalon/Brown patents will allow Agilent greater flexibility in the design of instruments for the manufacture of printed microarrays.
The license to Incyte's gene expression intellectual property, combined with Agilent's own sample preparation technologies, will allow Agilent to provide its customers with the freedom to use "the gold standard" amplification methodologies for their various application needs. Further financial details of the license agreement were not disclosed.
"We are pleased to add the Incyte patents to the already extensive portfolio of Agilent patents and patent licenses," said Barney Saunders, vice president and general manager of Agilent's Bio-Research Solutions.
"These patents will consolidate and strengthen Agilent's position as a major manufacturer of printed DNA microarrays and as a supplier of reagents and kits for sample preparation." "These technology licensing agreements underscore the growing collaborative relationship between Incyte and Agilent, which includes our earlier agreement regarding the supply of cDNA clones and Lifeseq data for Agilent-manufactured arrays," said Roy Whitfield, chief executive of Incyte.
"Incyte is pleased that Agilent's customers will now have the benefit of Incyte's array technologies as well as Incyte's content."
