BIOCIUS & Agilent Technologies Launch High-throughput, RapidFire® Accurate Mass Solution for Drug Discovery

BIOCIUS Life Sciences, Inc. and Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) today announced the launch of the RF360 High Resolution System for high-throughput screening of in vitro ADME assays. Combining the accurate mass capabilities of Agilent’s time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometers and the unprecedented sample processing speed of RapidFire^® technology, the instrument revolutionizes in vitro ADME analysis by eliminating the method development bottleneck in drug discovery.

The latest addition to the RapidFire portfolio, the RF360 High Resolution system, will be on display in the BIOCIUS hospitality suite at the 58^th Annual American Society for Mass Spectrometry Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah from May 23^rd to May 27^th. "High resolution mass spectrometry coupled with the unparalleled sample preparation throughput of the RapidFire platform enables significant streamlining of in vitro ADME assays,” said Can ‘Jon’ Özbal, chief operating officer of BIOCIUS. "Extending our partnership with Agilent Technologies, the leader in TOF mass spectrometry allows us to completely eliminate the bottleneck of developing test-compound specific mass spectrometry methods.” This revolutionary approach to in vitro ADME has been demonstrated to reduce analysis time to a fraction of that of conventional methods while requiring a minimal amount of operator input.

RapidFire technology combined with TOF mass spectrometers enables a wide range of ADME assays, including drug-drug interaction, metabolic stability, Caco-2, PAMPA and others. When performing such assays with the RF360, a priori knowledge of the test compound is not required, as data is acquired in full scan TOF-MS mode. Post acquisition, the relevant data is extracted using RapidFire software, eliminating the time consuming and labor intensive steps of LC/MS method development and batch analysis.

"Only TOF spectrometry can meet the scan speed and resolution demands required for these high-throughput types of applications,” said Gustavo Salem, vice president and general manager of Agilent’s Biological Systems Division. "Partnering with BIOCIUS on the RF360 has provided a solution that is the fastest approach to ADME on the market.”

Representatives from BIOCIUS and Agilent will be at the ASMS Conference at booth numbers 67 and 68, respectively. The RF360 High Resolution System will be on display in BIOCIUS Hospitality suite, 251A, at the Salt Palace Convention Center. Additionally, oral and poster presentations will feature the instrumentation:

ORAL PRESENTATION:

Session: Increasing Throughput for ADME and PK Assays

8:50 a.m., Monday June 24^th, Hall 2

Reducing Bottlenecks in ADME Sample Analysis using Solid Phase Extraction with a Quadrupole Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer. Panos Hatsis, Michelle Romm, Vaughn Miller, Jakal Amin, William A. LaMarr, Can "Jon" Ozbal, Shawn Harriman. Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, MA; BIOCIUS Lifesciences, Woburn, MA

POSTERS:

1. Session: TP21, Drug Metabolism: High Throughput

Number: 498, Tuesday June 25^th

Evaluation of Accurate Mass TOF-MS for Use in High Throughput PAMPA Screening. Michelle Romm, Nikunj Parikh, Vaughn Miller, William A. LaMarr, Can "Jon" Ozbal. BIOCIUS Life Sciences, Inc., Woburn, MA

2. Session: TP21, Drug Metabolism: High Throughput Time

Number: 500, Tuesday June 25^th

Comparison of LC/MS/MS and a Fully Integrated Autosampler/Solid Phase Extraction System for the Analysis of Permeability Samples. Adam C Amaral, Christopher Caldwell, Panos Hatsis, Jakal Amin, Shawn Harriman. Novartis, Cambridge, MA

3. Session: ThP24, High Throughput Analysis/Robotics

Number: 572, Thursday June 27^th.

Development of a High-Throughput MS-Based Bioanalytical Method for Assessment of P-Glycoprotein Inhibition Andrew Wagner, Janet Kolb, John Herbst, Tatyana Zvyaga, Conway Charlie, Harold Weller, Wilson Shou, Can "Jon" Ozbal. Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Wallingford, CT; Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Princeton, NJ; BIOCIUS Life Sciences, Inc, Woburn, MA.

USER GROUP MEETING:

Agilent Technologies

Saturday, May 22, 2010

5:00 pm – 9:30 pm

Marriott City Center

Olympus and Capital Ballrooms

220 South State St.

SLC, 84111

About Agilent Technologies

Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) is the world’s premier measurement company and a technology leader in communications, electronics, life sciences and chemical analysis. The company’s 16,000 employees serve customers in more than 110 countries. Agilent had net revenues of $4.5 billion in fiscal 2009. Information about Agilent is available on the Web at www.agilent.com.

About BIOCIUS Life Sciences

Named from the Greek word "BIO” (life) and the Latin word "OCIUS” (faster), BIOCIUS Life Sciences provides the biopharmaceutical industry with faster answers: Products and services committed to speed and accuracy in drug discovery. Used by 13 of the top 15 pharmaceutical companies, BIOCIUS’s products and contract research services enable our partners to exceed their business goals. For more information, please visit www.biocius.com

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