ForteBio Launches New-Generation Octet(R) QK(e) Instrument

MENLO PARK, Calif., April 20 /PRNewswire/ -- ForteBio®, Inc., a leading supplier of label-free technology that accelerates the development of biotherapeutic and pharmaceutical products, today announced the launch of its new Octet QK(e) instrumentation system. The new system, the next generation of the company's initial eight-channel Octet QK instrument, provides significantly increased sensitivity, enabling analysis of small proteins and peptides. Additionally, the Octet QK(e) system enables biosensors to be re-racked, for increased workflow flexibility and cost savings.

"Since its introduction in 2005, our Octet QK product has gained popularity among life science researchers seeking a label-free system that offers increased ease-of-use, sensitivity, throughput and affordability for quantitation of proteins and kinetic characterization of biomolecular binding interactions," said Christopher Silva, ForteBio's vice president of marketing. "Our new Octet QK(e) system offers all of these benefits, plus greater sensitivity and a wider dynamic range, due to its two acquisition-rate settings and higher-performance spectrometer. The system's increased sensitivity is particularly important for researchers analyzing lower molecular weight proteins and peptides. And, because it also allows biosensors to be re-racked at the end of an experiment, the Octet QK(e) system provides a significant value over other label-free systems."

The company also announced the introduction of its new Anti-Penta-HIS (HIS) biosensors for rapid, label-free quantitation of HIS-tagged proteins. The new "dip and read" biosensor comes with the highly specific Qiagen Penta-HIS antibody pre-immobilized on the surface and is ready to use on ForteBio's Octet instruments for specific detection and quantitation of HIS-tagged proteins.

"HIS-tagged proteins are commonly used in recombinant therapeutic protein development programs because they offer straightforward affinity purification and subsequent quantitation," said Mr. Silva. "Our new "dip and read" biosensor provides quantitation and subsequent affinity measurements in a single step, depending on the protein being investigated, without the need to purify from crude cell lysates. This process enables researchers to obtain quantitation, specificity and binding kinetics information on HIS-tagged therapeutic protein candidates with unprecedented ease of use, flexibility and cost-efficiency."

ForteBio's Octet platform is based on the company's proprietary BioLayer Interferometry (BLI) technology, which uses optical biosensors to measure multiple interactions in parallel, without the use of detection agents. The Octet platform consists of 8- and 16-channel instruments that accommodate 96- and 384-well assay formats. All Octet biosensors are designed to simplify quantitation and kinetic characterization by eliminating throughput limitations of traditional SPR-based systems. The Octet biosensors are disposable, configured in a standard microplate format and are coated with a proprietary biocompatible matrix that is uniform, non-denaturing and has minimal non-specific binding.

About ForteBio, Inc.

ForteBio is a life science company that provides analytical systems to accelerate biotherapeutic drug discovery and development. These systems enable real-time, label-free analysis of biomolecular interactions, providing information on affinity, kinetics and concentration. ForteBio's analytical capabilities enable significantly easier, faster and better characterization of drug candidates, thus providing greater value in drug development applications where existing methods have limitations in throughput, performance and cost. The company is headquartered in Menlo Park, California, with wholly owned subsidiaries in London and Shanghai. For more information, visit www.fortebio.com.

SOURCE ForteBio, Inc.