Nanogen Releases Enterovirus Reagent Employing Newly Patented Hybridization Technology

Main Category: Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses
Also Included In: Medical Devices / Diagnostics
Article Date: 16 Jun 2006 - 0:00 PDT

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Nanogen, Inc. (Nasdaq: NGEN), developer of advanced diagnostic products, announced today that it has expanded its product portfolio to include the MGB Alert(TM) ENV real-time PCR reagent, designed to detect sequences associated with enteroviruses. Prevalent in summer and fall, enterovirus infections cause a wide spectrum of diseases and are the most common cause of aseptic meningitis.

"According to the Centers for Disease Control, enteroviruses cause an estimated 10 to 15 million symptomatic cases a year in the United States," said Howard C. Birndorf, Nanogen chairman and chief executive officer. "Enterovirus testing constitutes a segment of the infectious disease molecular diagnostics market, which is expected to reach $2.3 billion by 2010."

"Detection of viral infections by real-time PCR is typically faster, more sensitive and more specific than through other methods," said Birndorf, "and should help reduce the healthcare costs associated with enteroviral infections." Aseptic meningitis cases account for tens of thousands of hospitalizations every year.

George E. Buck, chief of microbiology at Norton Healthcare in Louisville, KY, finds the MGB Alert ENV product to be "very sensitive and easy to use. Physicians at our hospital rely on our results to help them diagnose these infections."

Nanogen's MGB Alert Enterovirus analyte specific reagent (ASR), like all MGB Alert products, utilizes novel detection chemistry claimed in U.S. Patent 7,045,610, issued to Nanogen May 16. The '610 patent, "Modified Oligonucleotides for Mismatch Discrimination," claims the use of modified bases to improved hybridization-based diagnostic assays.

The patented chemistry is employed in most of the company's ASRs and research products, enabling laboratories to develop multiple assays with universal parameters, which increases the efficiency and throughput of clinical testing. The super bases (Super A(TM), Super T(TM), Super G(TM) and Super N(TM)) and MGB technology described in '610 allow the use of shorter probes with increased sensitivity to mismatches, which have proved essential for detecting short conserved sequences of enteroviruses as well as other pathogens.

"Specifically, '610 allows Nanogen to deliver real-time PCR probe and primer designs for targets that would be otherwise intractable," said Birndorf.

About Nanogen, Inc.

Nanogen's advanced technologies provide researchers, clinicians and physicians worldwide with improved methods and tools to predict, diagnose, and ultimately help treat disease. The company's products include real-time PCR reagents, the NanoChip(R) electronic microarray platform and a line of rapid, point-of-care diagnostic tests. Nanogen's ten years of pioneering research involving nanotechnology holds the promise of miniaturization and continues to be supported for its potential for diagnostic and biodefense applications. For additional information please visit Nanogen's website at http://www.nanogen.com.

Nanogen Forward-Looking Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements, including whether patents owned or licensed by Nanogen will be developed into products, whether the patents owned by Nanogen offer any protection against competitors with competing technologies, whether products under development can be successfully developed and commercialized, whether results reported by our customers or partners can be identically replicated, and other risks and uncertainties discussed under the caption "Factors That May Affect Results" and elsewhere in Nanogen's Form 10-K or Form 10-Q most recently filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof. Nanogen disclaims any intent or obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

Nanogen, Inc.
http://www.nanogen.com/