ABOUT AVANTRA BIOSCIENCES

Avantra Biosciences, formerly Decision Biomarkers ® has pioneered the development of the next-generation technology for protein biomarker analysis.ABS designed an integrated system of hardware, software and biology, enabling scientists and clinicians not specialized in immunoassays to perform multiplex biomarker analysis from their own lab bench or clinical trial site quickly and easily.

MARKET OPPORTUNITY

There is a large and growing need in the drug development industry for decentralized, on-demand testing of biomarkers. ABS's AVANTRA ® biomarker workstation is a compact, easy-to-use system that has revolutionized the way multiplex immunoassays are performed.

PROPRIETARY TECHNOLOGY PLATFORM

ABS has capitalized on its technology breakthroughs in assay automation, microarray surface chemistry and detection optics; creating an integrated system that automates sample processing, reagent handling, biomarker detection and analysis delivering "sample-to-result" in about one hour without manual intervention. The AVANTRA system simultaneously analyzes up to 20 different protein biomarkers from a single sample. This unmatched simplicity minimizes user error and affords precision with limited operator training.

PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

The AVANTRA system is offered with both "off-the-shelf' biomarker panels and custom-driven content with customer-specific analytes. Our "off-the-shelf" content includes:

•  Cytokine 8-plex MAX BIOCHIP ® panel (2010)

•  Angiogenesis 10-plex MAX BIOCHIP panel (2010)

•  Cardiovascular 10-plex MAX BIOCHIP panel (to launch in 2011)

•  Others in development including toxicity panels

AVANTRA ® Biomarker Workstation

BUSINESS FOCUS

•  Lab-Based Testing - The AVANTRA bench-top system is used in any type of laboratory environment where ease-of-use and on-demand biomarker results are important to the scientist.

•  Point-of-Collection Testing - As opposed to traditional central lab-based testing, our turn-key system can be used at clinical trial sites to generate biomarker data in real-time (e.g. PK/PD studies), avoid sample viability issues and enable adaptive clinical trials.

•  Companion/Point-of-Care Diagnostics - The system's ease-of-use, reproducibility and deployability make it ideal for potential companion and point-of-care diagnostic applications.