A Medical Device Daily

Vermillion (Fremont, California) yesterday reported that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued a re-examination certificate of U.S. patent No. 6,734,022, which is directed to a fundamental process of SELDI mass spectrometry.

As a result of the patent reissuance, Bio-Rad Laboratories (Hercules, California) is expected to pay Vermillion $2 million pursuant to the terms of the asset purchase agreement entered into in connection with the sale of Vermillion’s instrumentation business to Bio-Rad on Nov. 13, 2006.

“We believe this patent further validates the innovation underlying SELDI technology and look forward to receiving Bio-Rad’s payment,” said Gail Page, president/CEO of Vermillion. “We continue to make excellent progress translating the SELDI-enabled biomarker discoveries into novel, high-value molecular diagnostic tests.”

Vermillion is focused on the development of diagnostic tests.

In other patent news:

•SRU Biosystems (Woburn, Massachusetts) a developer of highly sensitive labeled and label-free detection technologies, reported the issuance of its 20th patent in the field of label-free optical biosensors and instrumentation. The patent, U.S. No. 7,264,973, includes claims specifically covering the label-free detection of cells on the company’s optical biosensor. The patent adds to the “expansive coverage” SRU said it has secured for its core technologies, including instrumentation, microplate designs and product applications.

“The issuance of the 20th patent, with an additional seven patent applications that have been allowed, is part our ongoing strategy for the company to protect its broad intellectual property in the field of optical biosensors,” said President and CEO Richard Wagner. “As part of our portfolio management, we will continue to seek worldwide protection for our innovative inventions in this exciting area.”

The patent is related to the SRU BIND® technology, including instrumentation, such as the BIND® Reader, capable of 96- and 384-well microplate detection. The SRU BIND® Reader can be easily integrated into automated systems and represents one of the most cost-effective solutions for high throughput label-free detection on the market for antibody and small molecule/fragment screening, and cell-based applications.

SRU Biosystems is a life science company developing technologies for rapidly analyzing the interactions of large genomic, protein, peptide, antibody or small molecule compound libraries against a wide range of biochemical targets.