PerkinElmer to Acquire Euroscreen Products

PerkinElmer, Inc.(Boston, MA, USA), has agreed to acquire Euroscreen Products S.A. (Gosselies, Belgium; www.euroscreen.be), a technology leader in the health sciences and photonics, in a cash transaction. Financial details were not disclosed.

Perkin Elmer has signed an agreement with Euroscreen S.A. (also in Gosselies), the parent of Euroscreen Products, to make the acquisition. Euroscreen Products is a leading provider of G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) membranes, cell lines, and the AequoScreen aequorin-based cellular assay platform used in pharmaceutical and biotech drug discovery laboratories. The transaction is expected to be completed in the first
quarter of 2007.

"This transaction would represent the next step in our strategy to build the most comprehensive offering in cellular screening and drug discovery reagent technologies,” said Gregory L. Summe, chairman and chief executive officer of PerkinElmer, Inc. "The AequoScreen platform would give PerkinElmer the ability to meet the growing demands of our pharmaceutical and biotechnology customers with a complete GPCR screening solution that improves performance and reduces workflow costs, while dramatically increasing lab productivity.”

Under the terms of the planned transaction, Euroscreen Products would transfer its portfolio of GPCR screening tools and its exclusive global license to aequorin technology, granted by the University of Georgia Research Foundation, Inc. (Athens, GA, USA), to PerkinElmer. Aequorin technology, based on a naturally occurring photoprotein, generates large, luminescent signals that result in higher quality data, while reducing the number of false-positives in high throughput and ultra-high-throughput screening environments. Improved data accuracy drives greater efficiency and reduced costs, making the AequoScreen platform a superior solution for GPCR screening over traditional fluorescence technologies.

"We are excited about the opportunity to work with PerkinElmer, sharing new ideas on product development and science,” said Dr. Jean Combalbert, CEO of Euroscreen S.A. "We expect the combination of the Euroscreen Products portfolio and PerkinElmer's robust global distribution channels would accelerate the adoption of this exceptional screening technology by the world's leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology laboratories. The sale of our products division would enable us to reinforce our strategy dramatically by funding our drug discovery and tailored screening service activities.”

This announcement builds upon other recent news from PerkinElmer related to GPCR and kinase assay development. Recently, the company announced its agreement to purchase Evotec Technologies, which provides high content screening (HCS) technologies to pharmaceutical and biotechnology drug discovery labs. The addition of Evotec and Euroscreen Products would enable PerkinElmer to provide a wide variety
of custom HCS solutions to drug discovery customers and strengthen the company's leadership position in cellular screening.

PerkinElmer's current GPCR portfolio contains a number of the market's most respected assay tool kits, which have broad potential for identifying cellular targets in a wide range of disease states, including hypertension, gastro-intestinal, and neurological disorders. The AequoScreen platform is particularly well suited for use with PerkinElmer instrumentation and assay kits to identify and classify cellular receptors in the discovery of new therapeutic compounds.



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