MBL Signs Non-Exclusive License With Envoy Therapeutics for Access to RIP-Chip Technology

WOBURN, Mass., March 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Medical & Biological Laboratories Co., Ltd., MBL, has signed a non-exclusive license with Envoy Therapeutics for access to MBL's patented RIP-Chip technology. As part of the license agreement, MBL will receive upfront payment, annual licensing fees and potential milestone payments. Envoy Therapeutics will utilize the RIP-Chip technology for the company's drug discovery and development.

MBL President Katsuhiko Nishida said, "We are pleased to enter into this agreement with Envoy, an innovative drug discovery company. This agreement provides Envoy a freedom-to-operate condition of our technology as well as a complementary approach to discover novel drug targets." President Nishida also lauded the scientific aspect of the agreement by stating, "RIP-Chip technology can provide additional information to their drug discovery pipelines regarding MOA and/or toxicological information of new drugs."  

RIP-Chip helps researchers understand the complex molecular networks involving genes, DNA, RNA, microRNA, proteins and RNA localization as mediated by specific binding proteins.  RIP-Chip technology is the only high-throughput approach for direct elucidation and analysis of these networks, whose importance has become increasingly clear with the growing appreciation for RNAi therapy, drug discovery and the role of RNA utilization in determining normal and disease outcomes.

About Medical & Biological Laboratories Co., Ltd.

Established in Nagoya, Japan, MBL was founded in 1969 as an antibody maker and is a leader in the development, manufacture, and distribution of antibodies and kits used in clinical diagnostics and life science research.  MBL Japan specializes in the business of diagnostic and research reagents as well as cytology products.  The MBL Network currently consists of 18 companies.  Additional information about MBL is available through its corporate website, www.mbl.co.jp.

About Envoy Therapeutics

Envoy Therapeutics's mission is to discover new drugs with superior efficacy and fewer side effects than existing treatments. The company's bacTRAP® technology enables the identification of proteins in vivo that are produced by specific cell types without requiring the isolation of those cells. The technology is especially powerful in tissues of the brain, where many hundreds of cell types are intermingled. Additional information about Envoy Therapeutics is available through its corporate website, www.envoytherapeutics.com.

SOURCE Medical & Biological Laboratories Co., Ltd.