Alexandria, Minnesota, USA
January 14, 2014

Douglas Scientific announced today that it has acquired the Smart-DART™ Platform for portable molecular diagnostic screening from DIAGENETIX, Inc. Under terms of the agreement DIAGENETIX, Inc. continues to have rights to develop and commercialize the Platform.

The Smart-DAR™ platform is a portable molecular diagnostic solution designed for use with isothermal DNA amplification chemistry. This acquisition is intended to support ongoing development of solutions targeted at in-field and point of care testing environments in a variety of markets. The instrumentation enables real-time amplification of target DNA at the point of sample collection in an expedient and cost effective manner.

Darren Cook, Vice President of Business Development for Douglas Scientific stated, “The Smart-DART™ technology acquisition represents a great opportunity for Douglas Scientific to advance and expand its product portfolio to scientists outside of the ultra-high throughput molecular diagnostic community. We are very excited about this acquisition and look forward to development and release of this new solution to both existing and prospective clients.”

As part of the agreement, DIAGENETIX will receive an undisclosed upfront payment and future milestones and royalty payments. Scott Shibata, President of DIAGENETIX, said, “We developed the Smart-DART™ Platform to help agricultural producers accurately and quickly identify threats to their crops. With the Smart-DART™ platform agricultural producers are able to obtain test results in the field within minutes as opposed to waiting days for results from a laboratory. ”

About Douglas Scientific

Douglas Scientific is dedicated to making the world a better place by delivering innovative laboratory automation. By partnering with the most creative and dedicated scientists around the world, the Company delivers advancements to address several imminent global issues and threats. Douglas Scientific is a wholly owned company of Douglas Machine Inc., with corporate offices located at 3600 Minnesota Street, Alexandria, MN 56308.

Array Tape is engineered to be a ubiquitous media for high throughput processing, driving more data at lower costs. The high throughput Nexar® (liquid handing and assay processing system), Soellex® (thermal cycler) and Araya® (detection system) optimized for Array Tape virtually eliminate manual handling and complex robotics required for microplate-based systems. The platform enables new discovery in plant genomics, animal health, human diagnostics, and pharmaceutical applications at unprecedented speed and fractional costs. Current applications supported by the Array Tape Platform include Endpoint PCR, qPCR, Endpoint Isothermal DNA Amplification, Real Time Isothermal DNA Amplification, and Homogeneous ELISA Processing.

About DIAGENETIX, Inc.

DIAGENETIX, Inc. is dedicated to providing mobile, accurate, gene-based (molecular) diagnostics. We believe by enabling diagnostics to occur outside of a centralized lab we can help industries and people more quickly prevent or minimize the spread of harmful pathogens and diseases. DIAGENETIX was founded by researchers from the University of Hawaii and the company’s technology was originally developed for the detection of select agricultural agents and funded by the United States Department of Agriculture.

Website: http://www.douglasscientific.com

Published: January 14, 2014