SHIMADZU LAUNCHES MAJOR NEW BIOTECH UNIT

Growth of biotech sector creates new focus for Shimadzu

Today sees the launch by Shimadzu Corporation of a new strategic global business unit focused on the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors. The new unit, Shimadzu Biotech, has been created to bring together a strong solutions-based offering to accelerate the progress of biotechnology research and development. Shimadzu Biotech captures, within one dedicated organisation, the best expertise and technology from within Shimadzu Corporation and its subsidiary, Kratos Analytical.

The group's initial offering will be based on delivering a wide range of key products covering technologies from DNA sequencing to high performance mass spectrometry to provide an integrated approach to the fast growing proteomics and genomics markets. Proteomics is rapidly becoming the focal point of biopharmaceutical research and is predicted to grow by 20% to a total of $10 billion over the next 5 years. Kratos Analytical's new MALDI-TOF (Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption Ionisation Time-of-Flight) and MALDI IT-TOF (Quadrupole Ion Trap Mass Spectrometer) represent the cutting edge of mass spectrometry - a key technology ideally suited to future developments in proteomics.

Other applications that the new unit will be supporting include combinatorial chemistry, micro-satellite DNA and SNP analysis.

Shimadzu Biotech will be headquartered in Kyoto and will operate in the USA, Japan and Central and Northern Europe under the strategic direction of an international management team, headed by Dr Ichikawa who joins Shimadzu Biotech from his previous position as head of life science at Shimadzu Corporation.

Dr Ichikawa commented, "We see an excellent strategic fit between our know-how and the critical success factors that will be essential to the future of the biotech industry. Shimadzu Biotech is our solution to guaranteeing that we can deliver this expertise to the sector"

The new business unit will provide a full service offering using dedicated sales teams, supported by full applications and service back-up.

In addition to bringing together products from both Shimadzu Corporation and Kratos Analytical to provide scientists with a unified solution to the drug discovery process, Shimadzu Biotech will also be a vehicle for evaluating and developing exciting new technologies to advance research in this field. A key part of this will be the creation of strategic partnerships, such as The Proteomics Alliance. This combines Shimadzu Biotech, Proteome Systems and Sigma-Aldrich into a single force focused on providing integrated practical solutions for proteomics. The three companies will work together to provide quality core products that meet the demands of protein scientists - from front-end chemicals to protein identification and informatics.

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For more information, please contact:

Shimadzu Biotech
Chris Sutton, MALDI Business Manager
Fax: +44 (0)161 888 4402 ext 228
Tel: +44 (0)161 888 4400
email: chris.sutton@kratos.co.uk
Website: http://www.shimadzu-biotech.net

For press information, please contact:

HCC De Facto Group plc
Richard Anderson
Tel: +44 (0)20 7496 3300
Fax: +44 (0)20 7496 3355
email: r.anderson@hccdefacto.com