PNA Coalition Forged Between PE Biosystems and Boston Probes

PE Biosystems (Foster City, CA) and Boston Probes Inc. (Bedford, MA) have entered into a cross-licensing agreement to accelerate the development and commercialization of products employing peptide nucleic acid (PNA) technology. PNA is used in basic research, pharmaceutical discovery, diagnostic development, and food and environmental testing. In connection with the cross-license, PE Biosystems will hold a minority equity position in BPI and will be represented on the BPI Board of Directors. BPI is an affiliate of DAKO A/S, a Danish life sciences company.

PNA is a nucleic acid mimic that has a neutral peptide backbone rather than the sugar-phosphate backbone found in DNA and RNA. This unique chemical structure imparts greater stability to PNA probes, thus expanding potential applications and improving both assay specificity and sensitivity.

Prior to this cross-license agreement, BPI and PEB each held various patent rights to PNA technology. As a result of the cross-license, each company will have well defined rights for its respective product offerings and for sublicensing.

"Boston Probes is a pioneer in the development of PNA technology and its applications, ranging from basic research, drug discovery, genetic disease testing, and pharmaceutical manufacturing, to food and water testing," said Michael W. Hunkapiller, senior vice president of PE Corp. and president of PE Biosystems. "We look forward to maximizing the value of PNA technology through this new cross-license and the investment in Boston Probes. Collaboration on this important technology tool is intended to capitalize on PEB's expertise in instrument systems and reagent development, manufacturing and marketing and BPI's long history of research and applications development. We believe these agreements will facilitate the accelerated development of broader applications for PNA probe technology."

"This cross-license agreement and the investment of PE Biosystems represents a tremendous milestone in the history of our company," said Jack T. Johansen, president and CEO of Boston Probes. "We believe applications of our innovative PNA technology and assay platforms, together with PE Biosystems' leadership in genetic analysis, will improve our ability to address the fast-growing market for nucleic acid diagnostics and life science research."

PE Biosystems, with sales of $1.2 billion during fiscal 1999, develops and markets instrument-based systems, reagents, software, and contract services to the life science industry and research community. PE Biosystems comprises four divisions: Applied Biosystems, PE Informatics, PerSeptive Biosystems, and Tropix.

Boston Probes is a development stage company with an extensive PNA related intellectual property portfolio and has been developing PNA probe technologies for use in agriculture, human, and veterinary diagnostics as well as for detection of microorganisms in foods, beverages, water, the environment, and pharmaceutical manufacturing. In addition to the sale of its own products, Boston Probes is forming strategic partnerships that will allow its partners to quickly exploit the advantages of PNA technology within their products and thereby achieve a substantial competitive advantage in their respective strategic markets.

For more information: PE Biosystems, 850 Lincoln Centre Dr., Foster City, CA 94404. Tel: 800-345-5224. Fax: 650-638-5884.

Edited by Laura DeFrancesco