NEC and SomaLogic Enter Agreement to Prepare for Delivery of Novel Forms of Health Information via Cloud Services

TOKYO, and BOULDER, Colo., Aug. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- NEC Corporation (NEC) and privately held SomaLogic, Inc. announced today that they have signed an agreement to explore aptamer (*1) related businesses in the life sciences and healthcare markets. In addition, NEC announced that it has made an equity investment in SomaLogic in support of a long-term strategic relationship between the two companies.

The agreement establishes a framework for the two companies to develop and implement applications within NEC's cloud-based services platform to enhance SomaLogic's products for life sciences research and diagnostics. Customers will include pharmaceutical companies, research laboratories, and practicing physicians, with the eventual goal of expanding into personal healthcare services.

"NEC is pleased to work with one of the most exciting companies emerging in the field of molecular diagnostics," said Tadashi Higashino, Senior Vice President, NEC. "We believe that both companies can leverage their unique experiences and integrate them to provide for better healthcare, and thus enhance people's lives, worldwide."

SomaLogic has developed a breakthrough proteomics platform for both biomarker discovery and diagnostics applications, which can accurately and reliably detect nearly a thousand proteins to identify disease-associated protein signatures from a single drop of blood (i.e. approximately 15uL). The parties envision integrating this powerful new technology with NEC's BIOPRISM (*2), the life science research support system, and other NEC data analysis tools, including its SVM+ (*3) expertise. "This agreement gives us a firm basis on which to create new possibilities for the future," said Larry Gold, SomaLogic's Founder and CEO. "We are delighted with NEC's foresight, and we look forward to working with our NEC colleagues to find efficient and effective ways to optimize the research and clinical impact of our work."

Note

*1: Aptamers are single-stranded nucleic acids that form well-defined three-dimensional shapes, allowing them to bind target molecules in a manner that is conceptually similar to antibodies. Aptamers combine the optimal characteristics of small molecules and antibodies, including high specificity and affinity, chemical stability, and the ability to target protein-to-protein interactions, but with the significant added advantage of being measurable using well-established high-throughput nucleic acid technologies.

*2: BIOPRISM is NEC's proprietary life science information management system. BIOPRISM has a number of unique IT functions, such as a unidirectional pseudonym function for vast inspected omics data, a central management function for actual samples and inspected omics data, a data analysis function, and a reference function for inspected omics data and results.

*3: SVM+ is a machine learning technique for data analysis, recently developed by NEC Laboratories America, Inc. It is part of NEC's new generation of data analytics tools that can combine knowledge from multiple data sources, including the knowledge of experts.  For the analysis of proteomic samples, not only the micro array data are evaluated but also supporting information from patient records and from the biomedical literature. It is planned to offer these data analytics tools as cloud service on the BIOPRISM platform.

About NEC Corporation

NEC Corporation is a leader in the integration of IT and network technologies that benefit businesses and people around the world. By providing a combination of products and solutions that cross utilize the company's experience and global resources, NEC's advanced technologies meet the complex and ever-changing needs of its customers. NEC brings more than 100 years of expertise in technological innovation to empower people, businesses and society.  For more information, visit NEC at http://www.nec.com.

NEC is a registered trademark of NEC Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Other product or service marks mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners. ©2010 NEC Corporation.

About SomaLogic, Inc.

SomaLogic, Inc. is a privately-held biomarker discovery and clinical proteomics company based in Boulder, Colorado. The company's mission is to use its proprietary Slow-Offrate Modified Aptamer ("SOMAmer") technology to develop enhanced protein analysis tools and reagents for the life sciences community, to facilitate target validation, and to develop and commercialize clinical diagnostic products that will improve the delivery of healthcare by offering timely and accurate diagnostic information to physicians and their patients. Further information about SomaLogic can be found at www.somalogic.com.

SOURCE SomaLogic, Inc.