Proteome Regulatory News (PRM)

13 Dec 2006 14:07

PROTEOME SCIENCES plc

PRESS RELEASE

Issuance of TMT‚® Patent in Canada

13th December 2006. Proteome Sciences plc is pleased to announce that it has today received the official Letters Patent for Canadian Patent Number 2,460,131 entitled "Mass Markers" which was granted on November 21st 2006. The claims of the issued patent relate to specific isobaric mass tag structures which represent one class of Proteome Sciences Tandem Mass Tag‚® (TMT‚®) technology. The patent term is 20 years from 16th September 2002.

There are currently two international patent applications relating to TMT. Canadian Patent Number 2,460,131 was the second TMT‚® patent (TMT2) to be filed and claims isobaric mass tags with peptide structures and various methods of their use. The earlier TMT‚® patent (TMT1) is in process of prosecution at the Canadian Intellectual Property Office.

Commenting on the issuance Christopher Pearce, Chief Executive of Proteome Sciences said:

"Recent events, including the launch of isobaric mass tags by Perkin Elmer (ExacTags) and new applications for the isobaric iTRAQ mass tags by Applied Biosystems highlight the growing recognition of the importance of these reagents across life sciences research. We have been working on the development of a number of TMT functions to enhance our own biomarker discovery, validation and measurement efforts and to improve the ProteoSHOP‚® offering to our customers with particular emphasis on supporting applications in pre-clinical pharmaceutical discovery and clinical trials of new drugs.

The issuance of one of the TMT‚® family of patents in Canada is another significant milestone in the company's development. It validates the patentability of the TMT‚® isobaric mass tags in a sizeable economic market and underpins the value of our pending TMT1 and TMT2 applications in other territories.

This has increased the profile and economic value of our isobaric mass tags and will be incorporated into the TMT‚® licence negotiations.

We anticipate that issuance of the first Canadian patent relating to the TMT‚® technology will shortly be followed by further progress with both TMT1 and TMT2 applications in other territories."

EndsNotes to editors:Proteome Sciences plc

Proteome Sciences, a global leader in applied proteomics, uses high sensitivity proprietary technologies to detect differentially expressed proteins in diseases. The protein biomarkers discovered in body fluids or tissues are validated, developed and commercialised as diagnostic, prognostic or therapeutic products through strategic alliances and out-licensing.

Through its unique ProteoSHOP‚® toolbox, Proteome Sciences provides high sensitivity/high throughput proteomics solutions, including traditional two dimensional gel-based electrophoresis (2DE) and proprietary gel-free protein sequence tag technologies (PST‚®, qPST¢â€ž¢& TMT‚®), to major pharma, biotechnology and diagnostic companies, to discover and exploit protein biomarkers. Sensitizer‚® chemical mass tags have been developed separately as a series of stand-alone reagents.

For further information please visit www.proteomics.com .

Enquiries:

Proteome Sciences plc

Dr. Ian Pike, Business Development Director

Email: ian.pike@proteomics.com

Christopher Pearce, Chief Executive Officer

Email: christopher.pearce@proteomics.com

Tel: +44 (0)1932 865065

Public Relations for Proteome Sciences

IKON AssociatesAdrian ShawTel: +44 (0)1483 535102Mobile: +44 (0)797 9900733

Email: adrian@ikonassociates.com