FREMONT, Calif., Oct. 28, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- WaferGen Bio-systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:WGBS) today announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has granted U.S. Patent 9,132,427 and has issued a Notice of Allowance for U.S. Patent Application 12/624,399 with both method and system claims utilizing multi-well chips, respectively. With the grant and allowance of these applications, WaferGen now owns five total issued patents, and one allowed application, that cover multiple salient attributes of the Company's SmartChip™ technology.
This family of patents provides greater strength for WaferGen's core SmartChip products and applications. These products include the recently launched ICELL8™ Single-Cell System, as well as the existing SmartChip Target Enrichment and Real-Time PCR systems. The ICELL8 System is a revolutionary single-cell system for processing thousands of single cells for downstream analysis, including Next Generation Sequencing (NGS). The system has the potential to accelerate the drug discovery and development process, and could uncover discoveries leading to clinical single-cell applications. The SmartChip Target Enrichment and Real-Time PCR systems are currently used in multiple clinical research applications, such as the identification of variants within the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes via NGS.
"The granting and allowance of these applications complements our growing patent portfolio related to the SmartChip technology, and provides a solid foundation for our ICELL8 Single-Cell System, which employs the SmartChip technology," commented Rollie Carlson, President and CEO of WaferGen Bio-Systems. "Our additional filings of 17 U.S. and international patent applications related to single-cell analysis using the SmartChip technology, including single-cell capture, dispensing, counting, visualizing, and analysis, is expected to further strengthen WaferGen's position as the large-scale single cell analysis leader."
About WaferGen
WaferGen Bio-systems, Inc. is a biotechnology company that offers innovative genomic technology solutions for single-cell analysis and clinical research. The ICELL8TM Single-Cell System is a revolutionary platform which can isolate thousands of single cells and processes specific cells for analysis, including Next Generation Sequencing. The system has demonstrated unbiased isolation of up to 1,800 single cells ranging from 5-100 µm in size on a single chip, including single cells from solid tumors, brain cells, pulmonary airway cells, and multiple cell lines. The SmartChipTM platform can be used for profiling and validating molecular biomarkers, and can perform massively-parallel single-plex PCR for one-step target enrichment and library preparation for clinical NGS. The Apollo 324TM system can be used to process DNA and RNA from clinical samples to next generation sequencing ready libraries. These technologies offer a powerful set of tools for biological analysis at the molecular and single-cell level in the life sciences, pharmaceutical, and clinical laboratory industries.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended that are intended to be covered by the "safe harbor" created by those sections. Forward-looking statements, which are based on certain assumptions and describe our future plans, strategies and expectations, can generally be identified by the use of forward-looking terms such as "believe," "expect," "may," "will," "should," "could," "seek," "intend," "plan," "estimate," "anticipate" or other comparable terms. Forward-looking statements in this press release may address the following subjects among others: statements regarding the sufficiency of our capital resources, expected operating losses, expected revenues, expected expenses, expected cash usage, our expectations regarding our development of future products including single cell analysis technologies and our expectations concerning our competitive position and business strategy. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties which could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements, as a result of various factors including those risks and uncertainties described in the Risk Factors and in Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations sections of our most recently filed Annual Report on Form 10-K and any subsequently filed Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. We urge you to consider those risks and uncertainties in evaluating our forward-looking statements. We caution readers not to place undue reliance upon any such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date made. Except as otherwise required by the federal securities laws, we disclaim any obligation or undertaking to publicly release any updates or revisions to any forward-looking statement contained herein (or elsewhere) to reflect any change in our expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions or circumstances on which any such statement is based.