LA JOLLA, Calif., Nov. 7, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- Biacore International AB (Biacore) (Nasdaq:BCOR) (Stockholm:BCOR) today announced receipt of the Frost & Sullivan Awards for Drug Discovery Enabling Technology of the Year 2002 and Product Innovation in the field of protein arrays. The awards were presented last night at Frost & Sullivan's first industry-specific awards banquet, Excellence in Healthcare Awards, in La Jolla, California. Biacore was recognized as a company that has demonstrated excellence in the launch of new products and technologies within its industry as well as innovation through the development of a broad line of emerging systems platforms.
Biacore was selected as an awards recipient based on an evaluation of the world drug discovery and protein array markets by the management consultants Frost & Sullivan. In its recent report analyzing the 'World Protein Array Market,' Frost & Sullivan show that Biacore is well positioned to benefit from the explosive growth of the global protein array market, which is expected to expand by more than 50% per annum over the next five years to be worth $665 million in 2007.
The strength of Biacore's position was determined by an analysis of all new product launches and new products in development by each company in this field. These were then compared based on the degree of innovation and customer satisfaction. The companies analyzed were then ranked by the number of new product launches and new products in development.
The awards recognize Biacore's leadership role in the drug discovery and protein array marketplace based on the benefits of the important real-time data that its label-free Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) technology provides. Biacore has used this chip based, multi-spot technology platform since its commercial release in 1990 to develop a significant presence in the life science and drug discovery marketplaces, with Biacore(R)3000 and its latest and most advanced system, Biacore(R)S51 launched in Q3 2001. This instrument, which provides higher data density, is targeted at applications downstream of high throughput screening (HTS). In a market looking to improve its efficiency in developing and progressing NCEs to drug products, the increased throughput of this instrument, which generates critical functional data, is expected to become an important enabling tool for drug discovery.
Another important factor in Biacore receiving this distinction was the Company's innovation as demonstrated through, for example, a successful collaboration with Bruker Daltonics Inc. Biacore is leveraging its SPR platform by linking it with mass spectrometry to provide a technical solution that should prove to be a powerful functional proteomics tool. In addition, Biacore is making good progress in the development of its SPR array chip technology. This technology, which is being developed partly in collaboration with Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and BD Biosciences Pharmingen, is designed to build on the advantages of Biacore's SPR technology -- emphasizing its sensitivity, data quality and high information content, along with an increase in throughput designed to meet customer needs.
Commenting on today's announcement, Biacore CEO Dr Ulf Jonsson said: "We are delighted to have won this prestigious award as a leader in drug discovery enabling technologies, and to be in Frost & Sullivan's report on the rapidly growing 'World Protein Array Market.' This reflects increasing recognition of the key role that Biacore's SPR-based product line is already playing in the fields of drug discovery and development and proteomics. It also underlines the potential of the new systems that we are developing based on combining SPR technology with mass spectrometry, as well as our unique SPR array chip technology."
Cautionary Statement
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the United States Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which, by their nature, involve risk and uncertainty because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that will occur in the future. There are a number of factors that could cause actual results and developments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements.
About Biacore
Biacore is a global market leader in Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) technology based systems with its own sales operations in the U.S., across Europe, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. A strong patent portfolio protects Biacore's SPR technology, which gives unique real-time insights into biomolecular interactions. Target groups for the Company's products consist primarily of medical and life science research laboratories and pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies around the world. Biacore is focusing on drug discovery and development as its prime areas for future growth. The Company currently has seven systems on the market, the most important of which are: Biacore(R)S51 for applications downstream of high-throughput screening (HTS) including rapid characterization of HTS hits, and the comprehensive pre-clinical evaluation of lead compounds, and Biacore(R)3000, which offers flexibility in key life science research and drug discovery applications upstream of HTS. The recently introduced Biacore(R)C is specifically designed for compliant concentration analysis of biopharmaceuticals in GLP/GMP applications. A new SPR array chip system, which will provide higher information content, is expected to reach the market in 2004.
Based in Uppsala, Sweden, the Company is listed on Stockholmsborsen and Nasdaq in the U.S. In 2001 the Company had sales of SEK 544 million and an operating income of SEK 64 million.
Further information on Biacore can be found on the web: www.biacore.com
Address and phone: Biacore International AB Rapsgatan 7, SE-754 50 Uppsala, SWEDEN, Phone: +46 (0)18-67 57 00, Fax: +46 (0)18-15 01 10, e-mail: info@biacore.com
About Frost & Sullivan
Frost & Sullivan, headquartered in San Antonio, is a global leader in international strategic market consulting and training. Frost & Sullivan has an international network of offices that includes San Jose, Toronto, London, Oxford, Frankfurt, Paris, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Chennai, Mumbai, Tokyo, Beijing and Sydney. Executive summaries and interviews are available to the press. Along with producing in-depth strategic market consulting research, Frost & Sullivan also provides custom consulting solutions to a variety of national and international companies.
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