Taconic, one of the largest laboratory rodent providers in the world, announced it has entered into an agreement to market and distribute proprietary knockout rat models produced by Transposagen Biopharmaceuticals, Inc. The agreement expands the diverse line of models Taconic offers to investigators and complements the company's custom and off-the-shelf models, including a vast repository of knockout mice.

Under the agreement Taconic gains worldwide rights to distribute a selection of Transposagen's TKO Knockout Rat Models, developed using advanced mobile DNA technologies. The rat repository currently includes approximately 100 models; Transposagen has expressed plans to expand it to 30,000 lines, eventually providing a knockout for each gene in the rat genome.

"The addition of Transposagen's knockout rat repository to Taconic's industry-leading portfolio of transgenic models further strengthens our ability to provide a broad range of sophisticated tools to investigators engaged in pharmaceutical and biomedical research," said Kevin Leak, Senior Vice President, Client Relations, Taconic. "As a global leader in the generation, characterization and distribution of laboratory research models, we are excited to offer more options for the many researchers who turn to Taconic as their preferred source for transgenic models, custom models, and supporting services."

Greater access to knockout rat models is vital to the success of drug discovery. Rats are preferred over mice for certain studies, because their physiology is more similar to humans and their larger size makes imaging, blood sampling and surgery easier. Yet rat knockouts traditionally have been difficult to develop, since the rat genome isn't as amenable to genetic manipulation as the mouse genome. By facilitating investigator access to Transposagen's knockout rat models, Taconic streamlines the process for researchers and helps advance their drug discovery.

Transposagen's TKO Knockout Rat Models complement Taconic's wide-ranging product portfolio, offering researchers greater choice in selecting the most relevant model. The company?s product line includes the Taconic Transgenic Model portfolio of fully-licensed, off-the-shelf models available in typical quantity studies; the Emerging Models program, providing worldwide access to investigator-sponsored models early in their life cycles; a repository of 3,200+ proprietary knockout mice; and custom model generation services.

Transposagen Biopharmaceuticals, Inc., a Lexington, KY based company, is the worldwide leader in the creation of unique genetically modified rat models. The company's signature product, TKO Knockout Rat Models, mimic human diseases and are used for drug discovery and development research.

Taconic Farms, Inc. was founded in 1952 as a family-owned business in New York's Hudson River Valley. Since then, the company has become one of the largest laboratory rodent providers in the world with a reputation for consistently producing high quality, well-defined rats and mice.