Protein Discovery and New Objective sign co-marketing and development agreement

Protein Discovery, Inc. and New Objective, Inc. today announced that they have entered into a strategic co-marketing and development agreement designed to enable and expand key applications for intact protein analysis using mass spectrometry ("top down" proteomics).

The companies intend to co-market their respective product lines focused on "sample to spray," which include Protein Discovery's GELFREE™ 8100 Fractionation System for molecular weight-based fractionation of intact proteins and New Objective's PicoFrit® high performance nanobore chromatography columns and Digital PicoView® nanospray sources. Together, this platform enables the production of the most comprehensive top down data available. The firms intend to co-market their products through industry publications and at selected trade shows, and collaborate on the development of new products that improve the data quality and throughput of intact protein analysis using mass spectrometry.

In recent years, biotherapeutics have emerged as one of the most promising drug classes in the pharmaceutical industry. As a result, it is reported that over 50% of all drugs currently on the market or in development are biotherapeutics. The need for complete characterization of the quality and physiochemical attributes of these molecules requires sophisticated techniques. Mass spectrometry (MS) has become an essential tool for these analyses and other intact protein characterization studies due to its superior resolution over alternative analytical techniques. However, the extent to which MS can be used is currently limited by the methods available to prepare and introduce the sample into the mass spectrometer. Protein Discovery and New Objective believe that the combination of their respective patented technology platforms will provide scientists engaged in top down protein analysis with an integrated, standardized workflow offering the most robust and sensitive data available, which will accelerate and improve their studies.

"While MS systems have become increasingly capable of analyzing intact proteins, achieving a fast, high-quality sample preparation workflow to make productive use of these powerful systems has been challenging for many labs," said Chuck Witkowski, president and chief executive officer of Protein Discovery. "This new workflow makes top down proteomics research much more practical for a variety of applications, including the characterization of biotherapeutics by mass spectrometry," he added.

"High quality analysis of intact proteins using mass spectrometry requires highly specialized tools," stated Gary Valaskovic, PhD, president and chief executive officer of New Objective. "Protein Discovery's GELFREE™ 8100 system permits the reproducible fractionation of intact proteins in a multiplexed fashion, with very high loading capacity and recovery. Coupled with our high performance nanobore chromatography columns and industry-leading nanoelectrospray sources, we believe this platform enables previously unattainable sensitivity and throughput. We intend to continue to work together to optimize and expand the platform for specific applications."

Technical details of the optimized workflow for top-down proteomics will be presented at the upcoming CPSA 2009 meeting, to be held October 26-29 in Langhorne, PA.