DRI
Capital Inc and Nanogen, Inc announced today that
they have entered into an agreement for DRI to acquire, for US$10
million, all future royalties generated by Applied Biosystems (ABI)
under a license ABI has taken from Nanogen for MGB(TM) (minor groove
binder) technology.
"This transaction extends DRI's interests in royalties related
to molecular biology research tools," said Joshua Salisbury, Managing
Director at DRI. "This agreement is another example of the tailored and
innovative sources of capital DRI offers and we are pleased that we
were able to work with Nanogen again."
"Monetizing this royalty stream provides us with a
non-dilutive means of raising capital to fund our operations as we work
towards achieving cash flow breakeven in late 2008," said Howard C.
Birndorf, Nanogen chairman and chief executive officer.
The royalty payments included in the agreement are related to
Nanogen's patented MGB(TM) technology that has been licensed to ABI for
use in ABI's TaqMan(R) products (TaqMan(R) is a registered trademark of
Roche Molecular Systems, Inc.). ABI's TaqMan(R) assays library using
Nanogen's MGB(TM) is the leading life science research product library
for PCR applications. Nanogen's MGB(TM) technology provides many
advantages in the design of oligonucleotide probes, and has become a
sought after component for many companies working in the molecular
detection and diagnostic marketplace. Nanogen has an active partnering
and licensing program and has more than 40 patents related to nucleic
acid detection.