Asterand and 5AM Solutions

TIDMATD

Asterand PLC

29 March 2011

 
 29 March 2011

ASTERAND PLC

Asterand and 5AM Solutions enter a preferred partnership agreement

Asterand plc (LSE: ATD), a leading provider of human tissue-based services to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies engaged in drug discovery research, and 5AM Solutions, a life science technology firm, today announce that they have entered into an agreement to develop next generation virtual biobanking software for exclusive use by Asterand and its collaborators. The aim of the project is to enable broad access to geographically distinct biospecimen resources in an easy to use manner, thereby accelerating discovery in human disease research.

The companies will share development costs to build software providing a standardized solution for the identification, annotation and distribution of human biological materials for use in research. Asterand and 5AM will electronically link disparate biobanks to Asterand's centralized biobanking operations in Detroit, MI. The proprietary software will enable Asterand to garner biospecimen and data requirements from researchers and query partner biobanks for appropriate specimens. Once identified, specimens will be selected and qualified for distribution by Asterand.

"We are delighted to enter this partnership with 5AM," noted Dr. Victoria Blanc, Asterand's Vice President of Strategic Planning and Government Affairs. "Our customers require large numbers of highly annotated biological specimens. We believe that this software will assist us to meet this demand by allowing us to have vision into an ever-increasing network of sophisticated biobanks. 5AM Solutions has a proven track record of delivering scientifically driven software solutions to meet the needs of researchers across sectors."

"We are thrilled to be working with Asterand on this novel endeavor," Brent Gendleman, Chief Executive Officer at 5AM Solutions added. "Asterand has a global reach and a critical mission to expand access to high quality human tissue. They are the perfect partner to assist us in our goal to revolutionize the way scientists acquire biospecimens and data needed to decrease the timeline for meaningful results. Together we will create the platform required to link distant biorepositories into a virtual bank and enable controlled access to specimens for research."

Contacts:

Asterand plc

Martyn Coombs, Chief Executive Officer Tel: + 44 (0) 1763 211 600 /

+ 1 (313) 263-0960

John Stchur, Chief Financial Officer As above

Buchanan Communications

Lisa Baderoon / Mark Court / Isabel Podda Tel: +44 (0) 20 7466 5000

Daniel Stewart & Company plc

Martin Lampshire Tel: +44 (0) 20 7776 6550

About ASTERAND

Asterand plc is a leading supplier of high quality human tissue and tissue-based services. Our comprehensive approach to human tissue and research services offers pharmaceutical, biotech and diagnostic companies the unique opportunity to have one company meet all of their human biomaterial needs along the continuum of drug discovery and development. Our mission is to accelerate target discovery and compound validation and enable pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies to take safer and more effective drugs into the market.

For more information, go to www.Asterand.com.

About 5AM Solutions

5AM Solutions develops innovative software solutions for life science professionals. The company helps evolve the way biomedical researchers work and collaborate by using software to reveal new insights hidden in vast amounts of data, facilitate translational research, and solve workflow challenges. The company's solutions overcome IT-based roadblocks to discovery and accelerate progress toward the ultimate goal of better health and improved patient outcomes.

For more information, go to www.5amsolutions.com.

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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