TriLink BioTechnologies, Inc. (TriLink) announced that it has signed a licensing agreement with Biofortuna Ltd. (Biofortuna) for use of CleanAmp™ dNTPs in Biofortuna's freeze dried in vitro diagnostic PCR kits. Biofortuna is developing a range of unique HLA diagnostic kits which will address the transplantation, blood grouping, disease identification and pharmacogenetic markets. The first product line is targeted for the SSP (sequence-specific primer) transplantation market.
CleanAmp™ dNTPs gave Biofortuna a viable alternative to the more commonly-used approaches to Hot Start PCR. Biofortuna was able to improve the specificity of their genotyping assays by replacement of the standard dNTPs with CleanAmp™ dNTPs.
"Combining CleanAmp™ dNTPs with our novel lyophilisation methods creates the ultimate in high quality easy-to-use PCR assays. All Biofortuna freeze-dried kits are self-contained, including polymerase: to perform the test, all the customer has to do is add DNA to the assay and then PCR. Inclusion of CleanAmp™ dNTPs allows us to create accurate, reproducible and simple diagnostic kits, that greatly improve the quality of clinical testing and patient care," said Biofortuna CEO, Dr. Mike Bunce.
"CleanAmp™ dNTPs greatly help our production process and allow us to produce quality products. An added benefit is that our kits are environmentally friendly; the kits are stable at ambient temperature and therefore do not require fridges, freezers, thermal protection or cool packs during shipping or storage," said David Charvill, Biofortuna Operations Director.
"CleanAmp™ dNTPs offer a unique approach to Hot Start activation in PCR by chemical modification of the essential DNA polymerase substrate, the dNTPs. This versatile reagent can be used with different DNA polymerases and a variety of assay formats. We are pleased to provide CleanAmp™ dNTPs for the advancement of Biofortuna's technology," said Dr. Natasha Paul, TriLink Scientific Investigator.
"The ability to provide emerging companies with a cost-effective, easy-to-commercialize solution for high stringency PCR kits was the main driving force behind the development of our CleanAmp™ Products. We are excited to see our collaboration with the innovative people at Biofortuna come to fruition," said TriLink CEO, Dr. Richard Hogrefe.
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