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.