Kapa Biosystems signs non-exclusive North American distribution agreement with VWR International

Kapa Biosystems and VWR International, LLC announced today that they have entered into a non-exclusive North American distribution agreement for Kapa Biosystems' line of next-generation PCR reagents. Kapa Biosystems employs a high-throughput molecular evolution technology platform to engineer DNA-modifying enzymes for applications in DNA amplification, next-generation sequencing, and molecular diagnostics. Under the terms of the agreement, VWR has the rights to distribute Kapa Biosystems' portfolio of innovative products for applications such as high fidelity PCR, fast PCR, long range PCR, whole blood PCR, crude sample PCR, and single protocol PCR. VWR, a global laboratory supply and distribution company with worldwide sales in excess of $3.7 billion in 2008, enables the advancement of the world’s most critical research through the distribution of a highly diversified product line to most of the top pharmaceutical and biotech companies, as well as industrial, educational and governmental organizations.

“Kapa's agreement with VWR will significantly expand our ability to offer the benefits of these novel products to the broader life sciences research community.”

"Kapa Biosystems' high performance PCR reagents allow researchers to consolidate protocols, simplify workflows, save time, and achieve results not possible with reagents based on wild-type enzymes," said Ron McEwan, CEO of Kapa Biosystems. "Kapa's agreement with VWR will significantly expand our ability to offer the benefits of these novel products to the broader life sciences research community."

The DNA polymerases contained in Kapa Biosystems' reagents have been engineered through a process of molecular evolution and possess unique amino acid modifications that confer dramatic improvements to the function of the enzymes. Examples of optimized polymerases include: KAPA2G FAST DNA Polymerase - capable of synthesizing DNA in 50% less time with high sensitivity; KAPA2G ROBUST DNA Polymerase - more processive and tolerant of common PCR inhibitors carried over from DNA extraction; KAPA HiFi DNA Polymerase - strong proofreading capability resulting in the highest fidelity of any polymerase for PCR; and KAPA Blood DNA Polymerase - capable of amplifying DNA direct from whole blood without the need for extraction.