Chemicon International Inc has launched Hypoxyprobe line of products designed to detect oxygen gradients under normal and pathological conditions. Under its agreement with NPI Inc, Chemicon owns the exclusive worldwide rights (research use only) for the Hypoxyprobe detection system. The technology was developed and pioneered by Dr. James A. Raleigh, Professor of Molecular Radiobiology at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine and commercialized by NPI Inc, with funding assistance from the National Cancer Institute.

Hypoxyprobe kits consist of two principal components: a small molecule hypoxia marker, pimonidazole hydrochloride, that selectively binds to oxygen starved cells, and a monoclonal antibody, Hypoxyprobe-1-Mab1, that is used to detect pimonidazole adducts using standard laboratory methods. To accommodate diverse segments of the research and biotechnology markets, Chemicon offers Hypoxyprobe kits in three different formats: small (100 mg of pimonidazole hydrochloride, catalog number HP1-100), medium (200 mg, HP1-200), and large (1000 mg, HP1-1000). The kits can be used in multiple biological tests, including cell culture and in vivo hypoxia studies, fine needle aspiration, peroxidase and immunofluorescence microscopy, ELISA, and flow cytometry.

Existing experimental literature and the results from worldwide clinical trials, approved by the FDA (USA) and the Health Protection Branch (Canada), have proven the value of the Hypoxyprobe system for studies of cellular hypoxia. These kits are widely used to detect hypoxic cells in normal and tumor tissues. Currently, the Hypoxyprobe technology is used for the analysis of angiogenesis gene expression and discovery of new anti-cancer drugs and therapies.

"Introduction of Hypoxyprobe kits reflects Chemicon's focus on rapidly expanding angiogenesis, cancer, and drug discovery markets," said Chemicon's President David Beckman. "We are fully committed to making this important technology available to the biomedical community worldwide".