Cellomics and Beckman Coulter extend their strategic relationship to include exclusive distribution rights to Cellomics' cell-based high content screening (HCS) system
The new agreement covers Cellomics new KineticScanT HCS reader and the ArrayScan HCS system with Cellomics StoreT and Cellomics ScreenT software.
The integration of Cellomics' high content screening technology with the automation provided by the Beckman Coulter Sagiant core system and Biomek products provides a unique single-platform automated solution for both primary and secondary screening.
In the strategic relationship Beckman Coulter, which has a strong track record in providing automated solutions to the primary high throughput screening market, will exclusively distribute and service the automated HCS systems worldwide.
With its considerable expertise in cell biology, Cellomics will provide customers with technical and applications support. Typically drug discovery laboratories generate a tremendous number of compound hits which have to be sent to secondary screening for confirmation and validation.
Using multi-colour fluorescence-based reagents, Cellomics' high content screening technology is able to follow and quantify the activity of components in living cells.
It is the measurement of these complex cellular responses, analysed using sophisticated proprietary image-based algorithms, that provides the additional critical knowledge to accurately determine which targets to investigate and which lead compounds to pursue.
Cellomics says it is the technological leader and premier developer of high content screening, informatics, cellular bioinformatics and other products designed to provide customers with in-depth knowledge about cells and cellular functions in order to aid research in drug discovery, biomedical research and clinical diagnostics. Currently, Cellomics ArrayScan HCS systems are in use at multiple sites within the top ten pharmaceutical companies in the world. Beckman Coulter is a leading provider of instrument systems and complementary products that simplify and automate processes in life science and clinical laboratories.
The company's products are used throughout the world from pioneering medical research and drug discovery to diagnostic testing that aids in patient treatment.
Annual sales for the company totalled $1.89 billion in 2000, with approximately half of this generated outside the United States.
