ST. LOUIS, July 7, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- SAFC®, a member of
the Sigma-Aldrich® Group (NASDAQ: SIAL), today announced the launch
of the first offering in a product line of Zinc Finger Nuclease
(ZFN)-modified Chinese Hamster Ovary (CHO) cell lines. Designed for
use in the production of biopharmaceuticals, the CHOZN® cell lines
are expected to enable customers to reach the market faster and
more cost-effectively by reducing timelines commonly associated
with early stage biological drug development. The distinctive
features of the cell lines should appeal to organizations looking
to build a robust and comprehensive therapeutic protein and
monoclonal antibody manufacturing platform. Visit
www.safcglobal/chozn for additional information on the CHOZN cell
lines.
SAFC, a leading provider of custom raw materials and process
development services for the biopharmaceutical industry, leveraged
its expertise and experience with biopharmaceutical production
workflows to engineer the CHOZN series of cell lines to be
therapeutic protein manufacturing hosts.
"The CHOZN cell lines have complete traceability and are
expected to enable our customers to bring their therapeutic
candidates to market more quickly," said Bruce Lehr, SAFC Director of Cell Sciences and
Development. "The cell line is robust, and has regulatory-friendly
features that we believe will save them time and money."
As part of the first offering of its dynamic cell line series,
SAFC is releasing the CHOZN DHFR-/- CHO line for use in the
production and manufacture of biological drugs. The DHFR-/- CHO
line was developed through CompoZr® ZFN mediated gene editing of
the dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR) locus in a robust, extensively
characterized and fully documented CHO-K1 host. The new
CHOZN® DHFR-/- CHO line allows process development scientists to
use any common DHFR expression system for the selection and
amplification in a fully traceable CHO-K1 background.
"One of the core areas of focus for SAFC is investing in the
development of expertise across emerging technologies that both
differentiate us in the marketplace and deliver tangible benefits
that support customers in the development of next-generation
therapeutics," said Lehr.
For more information on SAFC's CompoZr ZFN offer, visit:
www.safcglobal.com/zfnkits
For more information on SAFC's Cell Design Studio (CDS) offer,
visit: www.safcglobal.com/cces
The foregoing release contains forward-looking statements that
can be identified by terminology such as "expected', "should",
"believe" or similar expressions, or by expressed or implied
discussions regarding potential future revenues from products
derived there from. You should not place undue reliance on these
statements. There can be no guarantee that the products described
in this release will continue to meet the demands of the
marketplace. Nor can there be any guarantee that any of these
products will achieve any particular levels of revenue in the
future. Such forward-looking statements reflect the current views
of management regarding future events, and involve known and
unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause
actual results to be materially different from any future results,
performance or achievements expressed or implied by such
statements. In particular, management's expectations regarding
these products could be affected by, among other things, unexpected
regulatory actions or delays or government regulation generally;
the Company's ability to obtain or maintain patent or other
proprietary intellectual property protection; competition in
general; government, industry and general public pricing pressures;
the impact that the foregoing factors could have on the values
attributed to the Company's assets and liabilities as recorded in
its consolidated balance sheet, and other risks and factors
referred to in Sigma-Aldrich's current Form 10-K on file with the
US Securities and Exchange Commission. Should one or more of these
risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying
assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially
from those anticipated, believed, estimated or expected.
Sigma-Aldrich is providing the
information in this press release as of this date and does not
undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements
contained in this press release as a result of new information,
future events or otherwise.
About SAFC®: SAFC is the custom
manufacturing and services business unit of Sigma-Aldrich
Corporation. We are recognized as a top 10 global fine chemical
supplier and trusted manufacturer of specialty chemicals and
biologics for the life science and high technology industries.
Utilizing global "Centers of Excellence" and dedicated
manufacturing facilities, SAFC can often resolve development and
manufacturing challenges and accelerate the production of custom
materials. Our rich portfolio includes high-purity inorganic
materials for high technology applications, cell culture products,
services for biopharmaceutical manufacturing and biochemical
production, and complex, multi-step organic synthesis of APIs and
key intermediates. For more information about SAFC, visit
www.safcglobal.com.
About Sigma-Aldrich:
Sigma-Aldrich is a leading Life Science and
High Technology company. Its biochemical and organic chemical
products and kits are used in scientific and genomic research,
biotechnology, pharmaceutical development, the diagnosis of disease
and as key components in pharmaceutical and other high technology
manufacturing. The Company has customers in life science companies,
university and government institutions, hospitals, and in industry.
Over one million scientists and technologists use its products.
Sigma-Aldrich operates in 40
countries and has 8,000 employees providing excellent service
worldwide. Sigma-Aldrich is
committed to Accelerating Customer Success through Innovation and
Leadership in Life Science, High Technology and Service. For more
information about Sigma-Aldrich, please visit its award-winning web
site at www.sigma-aldrich.com.
SAFC and Sigma-Aldrich are registered trademarks of
Sigma-Aldrich Co. LLC.
SOURCE Sigma-Aldrich