Sigma-Aldrich® and VIB Form Alliance to Provide Scientists with Enhanced and Faster Access to Novel Translational Research Tools

ST. LOUIS, Jan. 22, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Sigma-Aldrich Corporation's (Nasdaq: SIAL) Research business unit, an industry leader in supporting translational researchers by supplying the products, services and solutions needed to enable scientific discovery, has formed an alliance with VIB, a leading life science research institute based in Flanders, Belgium, focused on translational research in medical, agricultural and industrial applications. The alliance will focus on the commercialization and supply of new tools and technologies to help meet the evolving needs of translational researchers.

Beginning this year, Sigma-Aldrich and VIB will collaborate to provide the latest emerging tools and technologies that have demonstrated benefit for translational research and solutions to the challenges that scientists face. Utilizing Sigma-Aldrich's leading research and development and manufacturing capabilities, along with its global distribution network, the alliance will help to accelerate and enhance the commercial development and availability of VIB's research tools and technologies for researchers.

"Too often, valuable research tools that may lead to novel therapeutics or agricultural applications remain within the walls of the originating laboratory," said Sean Muthian, Ph.D., MBA, Director of Global Strategic Marketing and Partnerships for Sigma-Aldrich. "Through our alliance with VIB, we'll be able to provide scientists with cutting-edge tools and technologies that otherwise would not be available to them in an expedited fashion. This will enable researchers to have faster access to leading resources to more efficiently conduct their research and, ultimately, advance scientific discovery."

The alliance with VIB is part of Sigma-Aldrich's continued commitment to supplying researchers with the products, resources and support they need for their research, as well as address evolving needs and concerns, such as research reproducibility concerns. The VIB collaboration is the second partnership of its kind that Sigma-Aldrich has made to expand its portfolio and provide new innovations and products. Sigma-Aldrich recently announced an agreement with Scripps Research Institute to accelerate the commercialization of research reagents.

"Through our work performing basic scientific research into the foundational mechanisms of life and translating these results into medical, agricultural and industrial applications, our scientists often break new ground, developing tools and technologies that solve many contemporary research questions," said Johan Cardoen, Ph.D., Managing Director for VIB. "This collaboration with Sigma-Aldrich will ensure that the broader research community can gain from our discoveries, advancing science even further."

For more information on Sigma-Aldrich's alliance with VIB, visit www.sigma-aldrich.com/translational.  

Cautionary Statement: The foregoing release contains forward-looking statements that can be identified by terminology such as "will collaborate," "will accelerate," "will enable," "will enhance," "may lead to" or similar expressions, or by expressed or implied discussions regarding potential future revenues from products derived there from. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. Such forward-looking statements reflect the current views of management regarding future events, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. There can be no guarantee that this or any other strategic alliance will assist the Company to achieve any particular levels of revenue in the future. In particular, management's expectations regarding this alliance could be affected by, among other things, the Company's ability to obtain or maintain patent or other proprietary intellectual property protection; competition in general; government, industry and general public pricing pressures; the impact that the foregoing factors could have on the values attributed to the Company's assets and liabilities as recorded in its consolidated balance sheet, and other risks and factors referred to in Sigma-Aldrich's current Form 10-K on file with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Sigma-Aldrich is providing the information in this press release as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

About Sigma-Aldrich:  Sigma-Aldrich, a leading Life Science and Technology company focused on enhancing human health and safety, manufactures and distributes 230,000 chemicals, biochemicals and other essential products and 40,000 equipment products to more than 1.4 million customers globally in research and applied labs as well as in industrial and commercial markets.  With three distinct business units - Research, Applied and SAFC Commercial - Sigma-Aldrich is committed to enabling science to improve the quality of life.  The Company operates in 37 countries, has approximately 9,000 employees worldwide and had sales of $2.7 billion in 2013.  For more information about Sigma-Aldrich, please visit its website at www.sigma-aldrich.com.

Sigma-Aldrich and Sigma are trademarks of Sigma-Aldrich Co, LLC registered in the US and other countries.

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