2007-09-01 Woburn, MA, USA

New engineered PCR enzymes from Kapa Biosystems

Kapa Biosystems and Nippon Genetics Europe have entered an exclusive distribution agreement for certain territories in Europe. Under the terms of the agreement, Nippon Genetics Europe GmbH has agreed to represent Kapa Biosystems’ next-generation DNA amplification reagents in Scandinavia (except Sweden), Spain, Portugal, Greece, Turkey, Israel and Eastern Europe.

Kapa Biosystems is utilizing its molecular evolution technology platform to optimize enzymes for DNA amplification and molecular diagnostic applications. Kapa has recently launched two engineered DNA polymerases for the use in Ultra Fast PCR and SYBR® Green qPCR applications. The KAPA SYBR® qPCR Kits contain the first DNA polymerase engineered for real-time PCR.

“The majority of biomedical and research applications were designed around a very small subset of native enzymes”, says Ron McEwan, CEO of Kapa Biosystems. “The limitations of these methods are often the result of constraints due to enzyme structure or function. Kapa Biosystems is developing a portfolio of innovative enzymes that are tailored to suit specific application requirements.”

“As the DNA amplification market continues to expand into more specialized applications”, says Dr. Juergen Luenzer, Managing Director from Nippon Genetics Europe, “higher performance enzymes are required. Nippon Genetics Europe is confident that the novel enzymes developed by Kapa Biosystems will provide valuable performance improvements to our customers.”

In addition to this partnership with Nippon Genetics Europe, Kapa Biosystems has signed an exclusive distribution agreement with Nippon Genetics Co. Ltd. in Japan.

About Kapa Biosystems:

Kapa Biosystems was founded in 2006 to develop next-generation molecular engineering technologies. The company headquarters is located in Woburn, Massachusetts, United States with a Research and Development facility in Cape Town, South Africa.

About Nippon Genetics Europe GmbH:

Nippon Genetics, with offices in Japan, the US and Germany is a Japanese distribution company which focuses on marketing and sales of products for the life science community. They started their operation in 1988 with offices in Tokyo and Kyoto. In 2005 they founded a European office in Germany. In addition to supporting their existing suppliers, Nippon Genetics Europe also plans to introduce innovative products from Asia into the European market