Roche Diagnostics and Agilent Technologies announced today they have entered into a non-exclusive licensing agreement for use of Roche's melting curve analysis technology. Under the terms of the agreement, Agilent will obtain from Roche a non-exclusive license to use, develop and sell products based on melting curve analysis. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
"The licensing of the melting curve analysis technique to Agilent is one more contribution of Roche to further boost development of this technology in the life science field," states Manfred Baier, Head of Roche Applied Science, a business area of Roche Diagnostics.
"We are pleased to be working with Roche and look forward to offering this technology as part of our growing life sciences portfolio," said Bill Molnar, vice president and general manager of Agilent's Bioreagents Division.
The melting curve analysis is a technique for analysis of PCR products. After PCR, the resulting PCR product is slowly heated. Each double-stranded DNA has its own specific melting temperature, which is defined as the temperature at which 50 percent of the DNA becomes single stranded. By measurement of the melting temperature, the DNA can be easily identified.
About Roche
Headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, Roche is one of the world's leading research-focused healthcare groups in the fields of pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. As the world's biggest biotech company and an innovator of products and services for the early detection, prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases, the Group contributes on a broad range of fronts to improving people's health and quality of life. Roche is the world leader in in-vitro diagnostics and drugs for cancer and transplantation, and is a market leader in virology. It is also active in other major therapeutic areas such as autoimmune diseases, inflammatory and metabolic disorders and diseases of the central nervous system. In 2007 sales by the Pharmaceuticals Division totalled 36.8 billion Swiss francs, and the Diagnostics Division posted sales of 9.3 billion francs. Roche has R&D agreements and strategic alliances with numerous partners, including majority ownership interests in Genentech and Chugai, and invested over 8 billion Swiss francs in R&D in 2007. Worldwide, the Group employs about 80,000 people. Additional information is available on the Internet at www.roche.com.
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 19,000 employees serve customers in more than 110 countries. Agilent had net revenues of $5.4 billion in fiscal 2007. Information about Agilent is available on the Web at www.agilent.com.
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Contact:
Dr. Burkhard Ziebolz
Roche Diagnostics
+49 8856 604830
Burkhard.zeibolz@roche.com
Eric Endicott
Agilent Technologies
+1 408 553 2005
eric_endicott@agilent.com