Precision Antibody Selected to Provide Antibody Characterization for National Cancer Institute's Clinical Proteomics Technologies for Cancer (CPTC) Initiative

-- Second contract awarded to company as part of NCI initiative to improve monoclonal antibody reagents for proteomics research --

COLUMBIA, Md., July 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Precision Antibody™ announced today its selection by Science Applications International Corporation-Frederick (SAIC-F) to provide antibody and antigen characterization, including surface plasmon resonance (SPR) analysis, for the National Cancer Institute's "Clinical Proteomic Technologies for Cancer" (CPTC) initiative (www.proteomics.cancer.gov). A goal of the CPTC is to develop a standardized resource of very high-quality, renewable reference antibodies generated against cancer-related proteins. The antibodies will be made available to proteomics researchers, along with characterization data and other information intended to support replication and standardization.

Precision Antibody previously won a contract with SAIC-F to develop custom monoclonal antibodies for the CPTC initiative. The new contract calls for Precision Antibody to assist SAIC-F with the antigen and antibody characterizations of some of the newly developed CPTC monoclonal antibodies. Specifically, Precision Antibody will provide full kinetic analyses of antibody-antigen interactions by determining real-time on- (ka) and off- (kd) rates and affinity constants (KD) of selected antibody-antigen pairs and other characterizations, including ELISA, Western blot analyses, antibody isotyping, and antigen characterization by SDS-PAGE.

The antibody characterization contract award was the result of a competitive bidding process among private companies that offer Biacore protein interaction analysis capabilities and was managed by SAIC-F, a wholly owned subsidiary of SAIC that operates the National Cancer Institute's leading center for cancer research in Frederick, Maryland.

"We are delighted that SAIC-Frederick has selected Precision Antibody to provide characterization for these high-quality reference antibodies," said Jun Hayashi, Ph.D., Vice President of Precision Antibody. "Our goal is to help the CPTC characterize antibodies and ultimately select the best antibodies that will minimize proteomic experimental variability from run to run, instrument to instrument, and lab to lab. We are excited to accelerate NCI's creation of a public resource of gold-standard antibodies to advance proteomics research."

About the Contract

This project is 100% supported with federal funds provided by the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, under Contract No. HHSN261200800001E. The content of this press release does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. government.

About Precision Antibody (www.precisionantibody.com)

Precision Antibody™ provides customized, high-affinity monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies to pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies as well as to academic, government, and nonprofit research institutes for use in discovery, research, and testing of novel pharmaceuticals, biomarkers, and diagnostic tests. The company's products and services are based on a proprietary antibody discovery and development platform technology that enables rapid development of target-specific, high-affinity antibodies. Precision Antibody provides one-stop service including antibody development, characterization, purification/production (from pilot to large scale), and conjugation as well as hybridoma cell banking. Precision Antibody is a wholly owned service division of A&G Pharmaceutical, Inc. (www.agpharma.com) and is based in Columbia, MD.

SOURCE Precision Antibody