WaferGen-SmartChip-molecular-profiling-tech-wins-federal-grant

(November 11, 2010 – PRNewswire) — WaferGen Biosystems Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: WGBS) has been awarded a $244,500 grant under the Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Project program established under Section 48D of the Internal Revenue Code. The grant will aid the company in advancing its SmartChip genomic analysis platform for molecular identification of disease states and therapy selection.

Using the SmartChip system, researchers can better identify patient response, speeding the critical path for introducing new therapies and reducing U.S. health cares costs of both research and standard of care. The WaferGen SmartChip system identifies and validates gene expression patterns — biomarkers — for multiple diseases. It uses quantitative real-time PCR in a high-density, nano-scale format. The SmartChip system enables the discovery and validation of higher quality biomarkers for improved genomics analysis in clinical analysis in clinical care settings, in addition to clinical trial patient stratification applications.

WaferGen’s SmartChip biomarker discovery and validation capabilities can reduce long-term healthcare costs by improving the rate and cost-efficiency of therapeutic discovery and development, and by detecting optimal therapy selection for fewer adverse effects and expensive hospital visits. In identifying cancer therapies, researchers will need to understand causes at a molecular level, identify accurate/reliable biomarker signatures, and detect optimal therapeutic selection. The SmartChip system enables cost-effective genome-wide scans and focused oncology pathway and microRNA panels to address each of these critical needs.

The Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Project is targeted at therapeutic discovery projects that show a reasonable potential to result in new therapies to treat areas of unmet medical need or prevent, detect or treat chronic or acute diseases and conditions; reduce the long-term growth of health care costs in the United States; or significantly advance the goal of curing cancer within 30 years.

WaferGen Biosystems Inc. develops, manufactures, and sells state-of-the-art systems for genomic analysis for the life science and pharmaceutical industries. For additional information, please see http://www.wafergen.com.

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