Appointment of exclusive distributor in Japan is part of strategy to serve functional genomics research throughout the Asia-Pacific region
NimbleGen Systems has announced its appointment of GeneFrontier (Tokyo) as its exclusive distributor in Japan.
This strategic agreement aids NimbleGen in providing customised, ultra-high density microarray products and services with unprecedented flexibility for functional genomics research in Japan and other Asia-Pacific markets.
"The distribution agreement is the first step in a strategic relationship with GeneFrontier as we grow NimbleGen's sales into the Asia-Pacific market," said Robert Palay, chairman of NimbleGen's board of directors and CEO.
GeneFrontier will provide marketing, sales and services support for NimbleGen in Japan.
The distribution agreement complements NimbleGen's current sales efforts in the USA and Europe.
GeneFrontier is a joint venture between ITX, BML, and InfoCom.
ITX, the major shareholder in GeneFrontier, also made an equity investment in NimbleGen.
GeneFrontier will provide innovative life science services and products to the emerging genomic drug research and development industry.
Makoto Ogasawara, CFO of ITX and CEO of GeneFrontier, said, "ITX and GeneFrontier see enormous potential in the genomic drug R and D market, which uses genomic data to identify and target disease-related gene/design compounds and thus shorten the lengthy drug discovery process.
As an enormous amount of DNA, RNA and protein information is required for this process, it is vital for the industry to constantly find the innovative technology to utilise these data, and we believe NimbleGen technology to be a perfect fit to achieving our goals in this market."
