Biacore and Boehringer Ingelheim collaborate in quality control

BIACORE AND BOEHRINGER INGELHEIM COLLABORATE IN QUALITY CONTROL New Market Opens for Biosensor Technology Biacore, the global market leader in affinity-based biosensor technology, today announces a major collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma KG, to @ co-develop BIACORE systems for biopharmaceutical quality control applications. Under the terms of the agreement, Boehringer Ingelheim, a licensed manufacturer of biopharmaceuticals, will assimilate the platform technology represented by BiacoreQuant@ into biopharmaceutical developmental procedures as well as into routine quality control procedures, that are subject to inspection by regulatory authorities. Biacore's biosensor technology offers advantages over existing biological quality control assays in terms of improved reliability and throughput of samples. The deal will accelerate Biacore's plans to rapidly bring its systems to the market with comprehensive validation support. The collaboration is valued at DM 1 million. New BIACORE systems will be installed at Boehringer Ingelheim's biopharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Biberach, Germany, and will replace e.g. ELISA technology. They will be used as dedicated instruments for measuring protein concentration in quality control procedures, and are expected to reduce QC time and costs significantly. "By actively co-operating with Biacore and sharing vital knowledge," explained Dr Lothar Halmer, head of Immunology and Radioanalytics at the Quality Control of Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma KG, "we will obtain a customized solution for important steps in the company's quality control process that out-performs conventional methods in terms of reliability and reproducibility." Dr Ulf Jönsson, Chief Scientific Officer at Biacore pointed out the wider implications of the agreement: "We are extremely pleased to be working with such a respected pharmaceutical partner. Our collaboration with Boehringer Ingelheim will help us to bring a system with validation support to the market quickly. This will offer us the potential to create substantial new business opportunities within the pharmaceutical industry. The validation of concentration measurements is a first step towards the development of a more comprehensive validation support system including affinity and kinetic measurements." For further information, please contact: Biacore International AB: - Lars-Göran Andrén, President and CEO, tel. +46 (0)18 67 57 01, or +46 (0)708 540 234 Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma KG: - Dr. Lothar Halmer, Biopharmaceutical Manufacture, Quality Control, tel: +49 (0)73 51 54 94 50 Biacore International AB Biacore is a global market leader in affinity-based biosensor technology. Target groups consist primarily of medical and life science research laboratories. However, expansion is also being pursued in other areas, such as food analysis. Biacore had sales of SEK 288.8 million in 1998 and an operating income of SEK 52.8 million. Based in Uppsala, Sweden, the company is listed on the OM Stockholm Exchange and NASDAQ in the U.S. Further information on Biacore can be found on the web: www.biacore.com Address and phone: Biacore International AB Rapsgatan 7 S-754 50 Uppsala Tel: +46 (0)18-675700 Fax: +46 (0)18-150111 e-post: develop.bia@eu.biacore.com Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma KG Boehringer Ingelheim corporation, headquartered in Ingelheim (Germany) is one of the 20 leading pharmaceutical corporations in the world. It reported revenues exceeding DEM 8.7 billion in 1998. The corporation has more than 140 affiliated companies and it conducts business on every continent. Its product range is focused on human pharmaceuticals - hospital, prescription and self-medication - as well as animal health. The group of companies has substantial research and development, production, and distribution facilities around the globe. In 1998 the Boehringer Ingelheim corporation spent DEM 1.6 billion on R&D, equivalent to 18 % of total sales. For further information about Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma KG please refer to www.boehringer-ingelheim.com ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/09/23/19990923BIT00370/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/09/23/19990923BIT00370/bit0002.pdf