Supelco(R) Introduces Breakthrough in Bioseparations Performance -- Ascentis(R) Express ES-C18 HPLC Columns

ST. LOUIS, Feb. 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Supelco, a division of Sigma-Aldrich® (Nasdaq: SIAL), announced today the launch of Ascentis Express Peptide ES-C18, a high-speed, high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) column based on a new 160 angstrom Fused-Core™ particle design. This column design exhibits very high column efficiency, providing a stable, reversed phase packing with a pore structure and pore size that is optimized for reversed-phase HPLC separations of peptides and polypeptides.  

"Many peptides have been investigated as therapeutic pharmaceutical drugs to treat diseases such as cancer, diabetes and immune-related disorders," said Wayne K. Way, Ph.D., marketing manager – HPLC-GC at Sigma-Aldrich.  "The recent growth in research of peptides as therapeutic drugs is in part due to the improvement in manufacturing of peptides.  It is an exciting area of research due to the pharmacological advantages of peptides as well as the drug delivery challenges.  Ascentis Express Peptide ES-C18 can be used to accelerate research tasks of identification, purity monitoring, and quantitative analysis of peptides faster and with greater resolution than traditional HPLC columns."

Other key applications of the Ascentis Express Peptide ES-C18 for the bioseparations and analysis market include peptide mapping, natural and synthetic peptide analysis, and oligonucleotide analysis. This technology is the newest addition to the Ascentis Express product line (http://www.sigma-aldrich.com/express), a family of HPLC columns designed to provide the analysis speed and resolving power of sub-2-micron columns with a 50% reduction in backpressure.

These new columns were specifically engineered to separate higher molecular weight compounds such as peptides and small proteins.  Ascentis Express Peptide ES-C18 columns contain advanced Fused-Core particles that have bigger pores (160 angstrom versus 90 angstrom in standard Ascentis Express), bonded with steric-protected C18 ligands to provide extra stability (ES) at low pH (< 1) and high temperatures (up to 100 degrees C), which greatly expands the application range for Ascentis Express columns.  Furthermore, this new C18 bonded phase offers method development analysts additional separation selectivity to complement the existing Ascentis Express C18, C8, RP-Amide, and HILIC phases.

The foregoing release contains forward-looking statements that can be identified by terminology such as "breakthrough," "key applications," "high-speed, high performance," "optimized," or similar expressions, or by express or implied discussions regarding Sigma-Aldrich's Ascentis Express Peptide ES-C18 or regarding potential future revenues derived therefrom. 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 products derived from the Ascentis Express Peptide ES-C18 will continue to meet the demands of the marketplace. Nor can there be any guarantee that products from the Ascentis Express Peptide ES-C18 will achieve any particular levels of revenue in the future. In particular, management's expectations regarding these products could be affected by, among other things, unexpected regulatory actions or delays or government regulation generally; 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 is a leading Life Science and High Technology company. Its biochemical and organic chemical products and kits are used in scientific research, including genomic and proteomic research, biotechnology, pharmaceutical development and as key components in pharmaceutical, diagnostic and other high technology manufacturing. Sigma-Aldrich has customers in life science companies, university and government institutions, hospitals, and in industry. Over one million scientists and technologists use its products. Sigma-Aldrich operates in 38 countries and has 7,700 employees providing excellent service worldwide. Sigma-Aldrich is committed to Accelerating Customer Success through Innovation and Leadership in Life Science, High Technology and Service. For more information about Sigma-Aldrich, please visit its award-winning website at http://www.sigma-aldrich.com.

Sigma-Aldrich, Supelco and Ascentis are registered trademarks of Sigma-Aldrich Biotechnology LP and Sigma-Aldrich Co.  Fused-core is a trademark of Advanced Materials Technology, Inc.

SOURCE Sigma-Aldrich