WaferGen Biosystems, Inc.
(OTC Bulletin Board: WGBS), a leading developer of state-of-the-art genomic
analysis systems, today announced it has been awarded a $244,500 grant under
the Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Project program established under Section
48D of the Internal Revenue Code. The grant will aid the company in advancing
its SmartChip genomic analysis platform for molecular identification of disease
states and therapy selection.
Using the SmartChip system, researchers can better identify patient response,
speeding the critical path for introducing new therapies and reducing U.S. health
cares costs of both research and standard of care. The WaferGen SmartChip system
identifies and validates gene expression patterns – biomarkers -- for
multiple diseases. It uses the gold standard technique of quantitative real-time
PCR in a high-density, nano-scale format. The SmartChip system enables the discovery
and validation of higher quality biomarkers for improved genomics analysis in
clinical analysis in clinical care settings, in addition to clinical trial patient
stratification applications.
WaferGen's SmartChip biomarker discovery and validation capabilities can reduce
long-term healthcare costs by improving the rate and cost-efficiency of therapeutic
discovery and development, and by detecting optimal therapy selection for fewer
adverse effects and expensive hospital visits. In identifying cancer therapies,
researchers will need to understand causes at a molecular level, identify accurate/reliable
biomarker signatures, and detect optimal therapeutic selection. The SmartChip
system enables cost-effective genome-wide scans and focused oncology pathway
and microRNA panels to address each of these critical needs.
The Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Project is targeted at therapeutic discovery
projects that show a reasonable potential to:
•Result in new therapies to treat areas of unmet medical need or prevent,
detect or treat chronic or acute diseases and conditions,
•Reduce the long-term growth of health care costs in the United States,
or
•Significantly advance the goal of curing cancer within 30 years.
WaferGen Biosystems, Inc. is a leader in the development, manufacture and sale
of state-of-the-art systems for genomic analysis for the life science and pharmaceutical
industries. The company currently offers the breakthrough SmartChip Real-Time
PCR system, the next-generation Real-Time PCR system for discovery and validation
of biomarkers, or gene expression patterns, on a single platform. The company
believes that SmartChip is ideal for researchers seeking to confirm discoveries
made with the growing use of next-generation sequencing. In addition, the high
throughput capabilities of the SmartChip system enable researchers to extend
their research across large panels of genes, and hundreds of samples, at a very
reasonable cost.
Combined with next-generation chemistry and optimized assays being developed
by WaferGen under the guidance of David Gelfand, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer
and one of the pioneers of PCR, the SmartChip system is designed to provide
accurate, highly sensitive and high-throughput gene expression profiling capabilities
to researchers, clinicians and pharmaceutical companies.
In addition, the company offers an innovative fee-based service for gene-expression
profiling using the SmartChip system. For additional information, please see
http://www.wafergen.com.