Sigma-Aldrich Licenses From NeuroSurvival Technologies a Leading Marker for Molecular Imaging of Apoptosis in Vivo

Sigma-Aldrich™ and NeuroSurvival Technologies Ltd. (NST) announced today that they have signed a licensing agreement for a leading marker, developed by NST, for molecular imaging of apoptosis in vitro and in vivo in animals. The marker, developed by NST, will be manufactured and marketed by Sigma-Aldrich under the commercial name Apo-TRACE™. Apo-TRACE™ is a member of a family of proprietary small molecules developed by NST that target apoptosis. Another molecule of the family, ApoSense™-PET, is in clinical trials for imaging apoptosis in vivo in humans with PET (positron emitting tomography) and is not part of this agreement.

Apoptosis (programmed cell death) is a fundamental biological process of cell "suicide", inherent in every cell in body, and its discovery is regarded as one of the major recent revolutions in biology and medicine. Apoptosis has an important role in almost any medical disorder, and its control may hold the promise for substantial advances in medical care for a wide array of medical disorders, ranging from cancer, myocardial infarction and cerebral stroke, to neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's disease.

Respectively, extensive scientific work is continuously being performed in the field of apoptosis worldwide, involving thousands of research groups, and generating over 17,000* peer-reviewed scientific papers in 2006 alone. Apo-TRACE is a unique and novel solution to the need of researchers for imaging of apoptosis in vivo, in the living organism. As such, it may substantially contribute to advancing preclinical research in variety of fields. Upon a simple intravenous administration, Apo-TRACE selectively targets cells undergoing apoptosis from the early stages of the death process, and, through its fluorescent properties, marks the apoptotic cells, thus enabling easy and accurate detection in vivo of this important cell death process. Thus, by substantially facilitating apoptosis research in vivo, Apo-TRACE offers a breakthrough in advancing apoptosis related research in a range of fields in biology and medicine. Apo-TRACE is available for purchase from Sigma-Aldrich as of January 2008. Once the ApoSense™-PET molecule also becomes commercially available from NST, apoptosis research in vivo will continue into the clinic and become a valuable biomarker for development and testing of new therapeutic agents.

* Based on PubMed database search.