Cyntellect Receives $2.2 Million Milestone Payment From Sigma-Aldrich

Cyntellect, Inc. has announced that it has received a $2.2 million equity purchase milestone payment from Sigma-Aldrich.

The milestone payment represents Cyntellect's satisfaction of certain terms and conditions under the two companies' exclusive Cell Xpress™ service commercialization agreement executed one year ago.

Sigma-Aldrich will employ Cyntellect's LEAP™ system to support its Cell Xpress service business to identify and clone high-producing cells used in manufacturing of biopharmaceuticals (such as recombinant proteins and monoclonal antibodies) and diagnostic antibodies.

"We are pleased to have achieved the next level in our relationship with Sigma-Aldrich, and we look forward to supporting their success in globally commercializing Cell Xpress," stated Fred Koller, Ph.D., President and Chief Technology Officer of Cyntellect.

Cell Xpress is based upon Cyntellect's proprietary LEAP (Laser Enabled Analysis and Processing) platform, which is designed to enable a high-throughput process for in situ measurement of protein secretion on an individual cell basis, coupled with laser-based elimination of undesired cells.

As a result, Cell Xpress directly clones the cells secreting the highest amounts of protein.

The automated capabilities of LEAP also provide for further process improvements by facilitating the integration of culture media optimization with the cell cloning process, in addition to detailed documentation about the clonal and growth history of each cell line that is developed to comply with FDA requirements.