Bio-Techne makes $10M equity investment in CyVek

Techne Corporation (NASDAQ: TECH), d/b/a Bio-Techne, announced today that it has made a $10 million equity investment in CyVek, Inc. (CyVek), with a commitment to acquire CyVek if certain future milestones are met.

CyVek has developed a transformative immunoassay technology, CyPlex^TM, which integrates an innovatively designed microfluidic cartridge with a state-of-the-art analyzer to deliver the most advanced and efficient bench top immunoassay system. CyPlex's^TM ability to provide "sample to answer" test results precisely and quickly in a sealed disposable device makes it a very attractive platform for clinical applications. The CyPlex^TM technology has demonstrated broad applicability across numerous sectors, including routine life sciences research applications. Commercial launch will be initially targeted towards customers who focus on translational research where sensitive, precise, accurate, multi-analyte results from small sample volumes are highly critical.

"CyVek has succeeded in developing a technology that combines unrivaled ease-of-use with extraordinary precision. With its legacy as the world's most thoroughly characterized antibody company, Bio-Techne has antibodies and reagents that are a perfect complement to the CyPlex^TM platform. The combination of Bio-Techne's content on CyVek's multiplex testing platform provides researchers with a powerful tool to develop, validate and test biomarker panels, so as to expedite life sciences research and enable biomarker-based diagnostics," said Per Hellsund, President and Chief Executive Officer of CyVek.

"We are very pleased to have formalized a strong working relationship with CyVek for the testing platform they have developed. We are confident that being able to deploy Bio-Techne's reagents on CyVek's innovative testing platform will translate into a powerful new solution for our customers. These features, in conjunction with the sample processing automation benefits of the CyVek technology, are sure to deliver valuable benefits to all users of this new technology. Additionally this is consistent with our long term strategy to expand Bio-Techne's business from being a reagent supplier to an applied-markets solutions provider," said Charles Kummeth, Bio-Techne's CEO.