FREMONT, Calif., June 16, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- WaferGen
Bio-systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: WGBS) today announced that the U.S.
Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued a Notice of
Allowance for U.S. Patent Application 14/075,631, with both method
and system claims to extract liquids containing single cell Next
Generation Sequencing (NGS) libraries from multi-well arrays. With
the allowance of this application, WaferGen now owns five total
issued patents, and two allowed applications, that cover multiple
key attributes of the Company's technology.
This allowance significantly strengthens the claims of the core
family of patents which support WaferGen's products and
applications. It enables the ability to uniquely extract discrete
reactions performed in the nanowells. This step is a key
differentiator which makes WaferGen's technology very
cost-effective and user-friendly by allowing the reactions from
thousands of individual nanowells to be processed in a single
tube.
The allowance provides a solid foundation for the recently
launched ICELL8 Single-Cell System and existing SmartChip Target
Enrichment systems. The ICELL8 Single-Cell System is a first of its
kind system for processing thousands of single cells for downstream
analysis, including NGS. The system has the potential to accelerate
research in cancer, neuroscience, stem cells and immunology which
could uncover discoveries leading to clinical single-cell
applications. The SmartChip Target Enrichment System is currently
used in multiple clinical research applications, such as detection
of gene variations which affect responses to drugs and
identification of mutation changes associated with multiple
cancers, using NGS.
"The allowance of this patent protects a key step in WaferGen's
workflow and addresses a key challenge of recovering material from
nanowells," commented Maithreyan Srinivasan, CTO of WaferGen
BioSystems. "Our additional filings of 20 U.S. and international
patent applications related to single-cell analysis using the
SmartChip technology, including single-cell capture, dispensing,
counting, visualizing, and analysis, is expected to further bolster
WaferGen's position as a large-scale single cell analysis
leader."
About WaferGen
WaferGen Bio-systems, Inc. is a biotechnology company that
offers innovative genomic technology solutions for single-cell
analysis and clinical research. The ICELL8™ Single-Cell System is a
first of its kind system that can isolate thousands of single cells
and processes specific cells for analysis, including NGS. The
system has demonstrated unbiased isolation of single cells from
solid tumors, brain cells, pulmonary airway cells, and multiple
cell lines. The SmartChip™ platform can be used for profiling and
validating molecular biomarkers, and can perform massively-parallel
singleplex PCR for one-step target enrichment and library
preparation for clinical NGS. The Apollo 324™ system can be used to
process DNA and RNA from clinical samples to NGS-ready libraries.
These technologies offer a powerful set of tools for biological
analysis at the molecular and single-cell level in the life
sciences, pharmaceutical, and clinical laboratory industries.
WaferGen recently announced a merger agreement with Takara Bio Inc.
(TSE: 4974), a leading Japanese and global biotechnology and life
science reagents company, which is expected to close in March of
2017.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within
the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as
amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as
amended, that are intended to be covered by the "safe harbor"
created by those sections. Forward-looking statements, which are
based on certain assumptions and describe our future plans,
strategies and expectations, can generally be identified by the use
of forward-looking terms such as "believe," "expect," "may,"
"will," "should," "could," "seek," "intend," "plan," "estimate,"
"anticipate" or other comparable terms. Forward-looking statements
in this press release may address the following subjects among
others: statements regarding the closing of the merger agreement
with Takara Bio Inc., sufficiency of our capital resources,
expected operating losses, expected revenues, expected expenses,
expected cash usage, our expectations regarding our development of
future products including single cell analysis technologies and our
expectations concerning our competitive position and business
strategy. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and
uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially
from those in the forward-looking statements, as a result of
various factors including those risks and uncertainties described
in the Risk Factors and in Management's Discussion and Analysis of
Financial Condition and Results of Operations sections of our most
recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K and any subsequently
filed Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. We urge you to consider those
risks and uncertainties in evaluating our forward-looking
statements. We caution readers not to place undue reliance upon any
such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date
made. Except as otherwise required by the federal securities laws,
we disclaim any obligation or undertaking to publicly release any
updates or revisions to any forward-looking statement contained
herein (or elsewhere) to reflect any change in our expectations
with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or
circumstances on which any such statement is based.
Investor Contact:
Rollie Carlson
Rollie.Carlson@wafergen.com
510-277-3417
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SOURCE WaferGen Bio-systems, Inc.