Sigma Life Science enters genetically modified cell market

Sigma Life Science, the innovative biological products and research services business of Sigma-Aldrich® Corporation (Nasdaq:SIAL), today announced the global release of a pioneering range of engineered mammalian cell lines. This new product range combines Sigma’s proprietary CompoZr zinc finger nuclease (ZFN) technology with the Company’s extensive experience in gene silencing, to offer innovative tools for drug discovery, compound screening and fundamental research applications.

This new range of products includes immortalized cell lines for a broad spectrum of applications, each precisely engineered to help scientists answer specific biological questions. By exploiting the revolutionary genomic editing capabilities of ZFNs, Sigma’s scientists can rapidly manufacture stable cell lines with precise, well characterized genetic manipulations. “CompoZr ZFN technology is a significant breakthrough for cell-based research. It enables scientists to generate precisely controlled additions, deletions and modifications to the genome of a living cell,” said Dr. Supriya Shivakumar, Global Commercial Marketing Manager for Functional Genomics at Sigma Life Science. “Leveraging this innovative and powerful technology to develop ready-to-use, validated cell lines is part of Sigma’s ongoing commitment to furthering our understanding of biology.”

The program will use ZFNs to incorporate and develop cell lines with a variety of cellular markers expected to aid in compound screening studies and biochemical pathway analysis, as well as specific isogenic lines designed to advance colorectal and breast cancer research. In addition, Sigma offers a custom cell line engineering service, creating bespoke cell lines to perfectly match a researcher’s application. “At Sigma Life Science, we have both the advanced technologies and manufacturing expertise to produce high quality, reliable tools for life science research. By offering complete modified cell lines alongside our portfolio of advanced bioediting technologies, we can provide a complete range of solutions to help accelerate our customers’ research,” Dr. Shivakumar added.

For more information about Sigma Life Science’s cell line products, visit http://www.wherebiobegins.com/biocells

Cautionary statement

The foregoing release contains forward-looking statements that can be identified by terminology such as “engineered to help,” “expected to aid,” “accelerate” or similar expressions, or by expressed or implied discussions regarding potential future revenues from products derived therefrom. You should not place undue reliance on these statements. Such forward-looking statements reflect the current views of management regarding future events, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such statements. There can be no guarantee that the engineered mammalian cell lines will continue to meet the demands of the marketplace. Nor can there be any guarantee that any of the products from the engineered mammalian cell lines will achieve any particular levels of revenue in the future. In particular, management’s expectations regarding the engineered mammalian cell lines could be affected by, among other things, unexpected regulatory actions or delays or government regulation generally; the Company’s ability to obtain or maintain patent or other proprietary intellectual property protection; competition in general; government, industry and general public pricing pressures; the impact that the foregoing factors could have on the values attributed to the Company’s assets and liabilities as recorded in its consolidated balance sheet, and other risks and factors referred to in Sigma-Aldrich’s current Form 10-K on file with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those anticipated, believed, estimated or expected. Sigma-Aldrich is providing the information in this press release as of this date and does not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.