Molecular Devices Corporation announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued patent number 6,420,183 to Bayer AG for claims relating to "Masking Background Fluorescence and Luminescence in Optical Analysis of Biomedical Assays." Under an agreement announced earlier this year, Bayer has granted Molecular Devices exclusive rights to commercialize this technology for drug discovery and life sciences research.

Molecular Devices is a leader in cell-based screening assays, which are preferred techniques in drug discovery because they identify drug candidates with a higher probability of progressing to clinical trials. However, most cellular assay procedures involve the washing of cells to reduce background fluorescence, a step that is cumbersome, time consuming and reduces data quality. By masking background fluorescence as described in Bayer''s patent, this wash step can be skipped, resulting in cells that are more responsive and screening that is faster and more easily automated.

Molecular Devices exclusively offers this technology to customers through its reagent kits for measuring calcium flux and membrane potential using both FLIPR and FlexStation systems. The fluorescence masking technology provides significant improvements in data quality, convenience and efficiency, enabling researchers to increase their throughput in screening applications.

"We are very pleased that this patent has been issued to Bayer," stated Stephen Oldfield, and Vice President of Marketing at Molecular Devices. "Reagent kits using this technology maintain our industry-leading position in cell-based assay instruments and reagents, supporting an installed base of over 500 FLIPR and FlexStation systems. In addition, the patented technology can be readily applied to Molecular Devices'' new Discovery-1, Gemini EM and Analyst GT systems for a range of screening assays providing both cellular and sub-cellular data."