MD Biosciences Blog

St Paul, MN, December 9, 2008 – MD Biosciences, a global biotechnology company focused in inflammations and neurology research, announces the launch of Lumican and Keratocan Monoclonal Antibodies. Both Lumican and Keratocan play a role in the development and maintenance of corneal transparency making them ideal for applications in Eye and Cornea Research.

Lumican and Keratocan belong to the Small Leucine Rich Proteoglycan (SLRP) family. Keratocan was originally found to be a cornea specific keratan sulphate proteoglycan. Lumican is a proteoglycan expressed in extracellular matrix (ECM) and connective tissues where it has been reported to contribute to collagen fibrillogenesis, tissue hydration, migration and proliferation. Lumican modified with keratan sulphate, constitutes one of the major proteoglycans of the corneal stroma, where it stimulates cell migration on the corneal epithelium and is also believed to play a regulatory role for keratocan. Mutations of keratocan cause cornea plana in humans, which is often associated with glaucoma, whereas the absence of Lumican leads to formation of cloudy corneas. This suggests that Keratocan and Lumican have different roles in regulating the formation of stromal extracellular matrix.

Both the Lumican Monoclonal Antibody (Catalog 1042007) and the Keratocan Monoclonal Antibody (Catalog 1042008) are IgM antibodies that are affinity purified on a thiophilic column. The Lumican antibody recognizes a protein epitope and is specific for human, bovine, mouse and porcine tissues. The keratocan antibody recognizes a protein core epitope and is specific for human, bovine, porcine, mouse and chicken tissues. Both antibodies are supplied as liquid, ready to use, at a concentration of 0.1 mg/mL for ELISA, Western Blot and IHC applications.

In addition to Lumican and Keratocan antibodies, MD Biosciences also supplies a line of Aggrecan, Collagen, MMP, Proteoglycan, Protease, and T cell specific reagents that encompass natural and recombinant proteins, antibodies, ELISAs and assays. For additional information on any of the reagents or services provided, please visit the website at www.mdbiosciences.com.

About MD Biosciences

MD Biosciences provides products and pre-clinical services for companies engaged in inflammations and neurology research. The company is headquartered in Switzerland under Morwell Diagnostics and has specialized laboratories located in Minnesota, Glasgow, and Israel. A panel of scientific experts provides companies’ in-depth expertise and technologies to tackle problems and provide flexible drug discovery solutions, enabling smarter results faster.

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The information in this press release should be considered accurate only as of the date of the release. MD Biosciences has no intention of updating and specifically disclaims any duty to update the information in these press releases.

St Paul, MN, November 11, 2008 – MD Biosciences, a global biotechnology company focused in inflammations & neurology research will showcase its pre-clinical capabilities at the 2008 Neuroscience Conference in Washington, DC, November 15 – 19th, 2008, booth 1825. Capabilities included in the showcase are efficacy disease models within Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Gliosis, Parkinson’s Disease, Nociceptive, Neuropathic, Post-operative and Inflammatory Pain.

Multiple Sclerosis:

Multiple sclerosis is a demyelinating disease of the CNS. Due to the clinical and pathological similarities of EAE and MS, EAE has been used as a model for the study of human demyelinating disease and is characterized by a relapsing-remitting disease course with subsequent progressive disability.

• MBP-induced EAE
• MOG-induced EAE
• PLP-induced EAE.

Gliosis:

Gliosis is a proliferation of astrocytes in the central nervous system (CNS) in response to injury which results in scar formation. Astrocytes react to injury by hypertrophy and up-regulation of the glial-fibrillary acidic protein. Gliosis, along with neuronal loss, is a prominent feature of many diseases of the central nervous system.

Parkinson’s Disease:

Parkinon's Disease (PD) is a neurogenerative disorder characterized by reduction in striatial (DA) content caused by the loss of dopaminergenic neurons in the Substantia Nigra part compacta (SNpc) and their proportions to the striatum.

• Acute MPTP
• Chronic MPTP
• 6-OHDA

Pain:
MD Biosciences offers Nociceptive, Neuropathic and Inflammatory Pain models:.

• Tail Flick
• Visceral Pain
• Caspaicin
• Post-operative pain
• Chronic Constriction Injury (CCI, Bennett & Xie)
• Taxol induced Neuropathic Pain
• Spinal Nerve Ligation (Chung)
• STZ Diabetic Neuropathy
• Carrageenan Induced Inflammatory Pain
• Adjuvant (CFA) induced Inflammatory Pain
• Arthritic and Monoarthritic Pain.

About MD Biosciences
MD Biosciences provides products and pre-clinical services for companies engaged in inflammations and neurology research. The company is headquartered in Switzerland and has specialized laboratories located in the United States, United Kingdom, and Israel. A panel of scientific experts provides companies’ in-depth expertise and technologies to tackle problems and provide flexible drug discovery solutions, enabling smarter results faster.

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The information in this press release should be considered accurate only as of the date of the release. MD Biosciences has no intention of updating and specifically disclaims any duty to update the information in these press releases.

St Paul, Minnesota, September 22, 2008 – MD Biosciences, a global biotechnology company focused in inflammations & neurology research will showcase its inflammations related pre-clinical services and research products at the 13^th Congress of The Asia Pacific League of Associations for Rheumatology (APLAR) in Japan on September 23 – 27, 2008. APLAR focuses on providing state of the art care to patients with arthritis and other musculoskeletal diseases through continuing professional development of members, increasing the awareness and understanding about rheumatic diseases, patient advocacy and empowerment, and fostering research in the field of rheumatic diseases.

MD Biosciences, with roots in the sales of rheumatoid arthritis research reagents, will feature it’s capabilities in preclinical outsourcing services such as the Collagen-Induced Arthritis (CIA), Collagen Antibody-induced Arthritis (CAIA), Adjuvant Induced arthritis (AIA), Monoarthritic Pain, along with general inflammation assays and the Senerga® Mode of Action Platform. MD Biosciences offers customization of all protocols as well as end-point readouts such as biomarker analysis, histology, and gene expression analysis. MD Biosciences research products featured at the conference include collagen related reagents and assays, ArthritoMab™ antibody cocktail, ELISAs, Aggrecan antibodies and T-cell antibodies.

In addition to the product and service offerings within Arthritis, MD Biosciences also offers products and services within other therapeutic areas such as Multiple sclerosis, Respiratory, IBD, Type I Diabetes, Endotoxic shock, Contact Dermatitis, Inflammatory and Arthritic Pain, Gliosis, and Parkinson's Disease.

Our Inflammations Discovery Service offers quick start dates and timely delivery of data, specialized scientists with experience using small molecules and biologicals, standard and specialized routes of administration, customized protocols and the development of novel models.

About MD Biosciences
MD Biosciences provides products and pre-clinical services for companies engaged in inflammations and neurology research. The company is headquartered in Switzerland and has specialized laboratories located in the United States, United Kingdom, and Israel. A panel of scientific experts provides companies’ in-depth expertise and technologies to tackle problems and provide flexible drug discovery solutions, enabling smarter results faster.

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The information in this press release should be considered accurate only as of the date of the release. MD Biosciences has no intention of updating and specifically disclaims any duty to update the information in these press releases.

St Paul, Minnesota, September 15, 2008 – MD Biosciences, a global biotechnology company focused in inflammations & neurology research will showcase its inflammations related pre-clinical services and research products at the Inflammation Research Association (IRA) International Conference, September 21-24, Chantilly, VA. Capabilities featured will be pre-clinical efficacy disease models and research products for drug discovery and research.

MD Biosciences will be hosting a lunch and learn session titled “Discovery of novel therapies for asthma requires suitable and relevant disease models”. Conference attendees are invited to register for this free session upon arrival of the conference. This session will focus on the OVA-induced Asthma model and airway hyperresponsiveness (AHR) as well as the OVA-IgE specific ELISA for measuring OVA specific IgE levels in murine serum samples.

MD Biosciences services that will be featured throughout the conference include the Collagen-Induced Arthritis (CIA), Collagen Antibody-induced Arthritis (CAIA), Adjuvant Induced arthritis (AIA), Monoarthritic Pain, OVA-induced Asthma along with general inflammation assays. Products include collagen related reagents and assays, ArthritoMab™ antibody cocktail, OVA-IgE ELISA, Aggrecan antibodies and T-cell antibodies.

About MD Biosciences
MD Biosciences provides products and pre-clinical services for companies engaged in inflammations and neurology research. The company is headquartered in Switzerland and has specialized laboratories located in the United States, United Kingdom, and Israel. A panel of scientific experts provides companies’ in-depth expertise and technologies to tackle problems and provide flexible drug discovery solutions, enabling smarter results faster.

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The information in this press release should be considered accurate only as of the date of the release. MD Biosciences has no intention of updating and specifically disclaims any duty to update the information in these press releases.

MD Biosciences, a global biotechnology company focused in inflammations and neurology research, is expanding its line of arthritis and pain preclinical services with the addition of the CFA-induced monoarthritic pain model. The model offers advantages over traditional arthritis models in that disease develops in only one joint allowing a comparison to the healthy joint. The quantification of pain associated with arthritis can be useful in elucidating the mechanisms of arthritis as well as evaluating the efficacy of anti-arthritic drug compounds in the discovery phase.

The monoarthritic pain model is a 28-day model with arthritis and subsequent pain present in a single joint. Pain response develops 1 day post-induction. Readouts available are clinical signs and scoring, body weights, mechanical and thermal stimuli, weight bearing, histology and cytokine analysis.

In addition to the monoarthritic pain model, MD Biosciences offers the traditional Adjuvant-induced arthritis model that allows for traditional pain measurements as well as a record of spontaneous pain using the Foot Print of Pain method. Other Arthritis models and research reagents include the Collagen Induced Arthritis (CIA) and Collagen Antibody Induced Arthritis (CAIA), ArthritoMab™ Arthritogenic Antibody Cocktail, Collagen Reagents, Collagen Antibodies and Collagen-related ELISA Kits and Assays.

About MD Biosciences
MD Biosciences provides products and pre-clinical services for companies engaged in inflammations and neurology research. The company is headquartered in Switzerland and has specialized laboratories located in the United States, United Kingdom, and Israel. A panel of scientific experts provides companies’ in-depth expertise and technologies to tackle problems and provide flexible drug discovery solutions, enabling smarter results faster.

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The information in this press release should be considered accurate only as of the date of the release. MD Biosciences has no intention of updating and specifically disclaims any duty to update the information in these press releases.

Zurich, Switzerland, August 12, 2008 - MD Biosciences, a global biotechnology company focused in inflammations & neurology research will showcase its pre-clinical capabilities at the 12^th World Congress on Pain (IASP) in Glasgow, Scotland, August 17^th - 22^nd, 2008. Capabilities included in the showcase are efficacy disease models within Nociceptive, Neuropathic, Post-operative and Inflammatory Pain.

Nociceptive Pain is part of a rapid warning relay instructing the motor neurons of the central nervous system to minimize detected physical harm. Disease models include the Tail Flick Model – used to measure the response to noxious stimuli, the Visceral Pain Model – used to measure the effectiveness of analgesic agents, the Caspaicin model – used to evaluate response mediated by the VR1 pathway, and Post-operative pain models for screening the pathophysiology of hyperalgesia.

Neuropathic Pain is produced by damage to the neurons in the peripheral and central nervous systems. Disease models include the Chronic Constriction Injury (CCI, Bennett & Xie) model - involves inflammation around the nerve, the Taxol induced Neuropathic Pain model – causing peripheral nerve ending injury, the Spinal Nerve Ligation (Chung) Model – nerve ligation between L5 & L6, and the STZ Diabetic Neuropathy model – direct destruction of the nerve associated with high levels of glucose.

Inflammatory Pain is associated with tissue damage and the resulting inflammatory response. Disease models include the Carrageenan Induced Inflammatory Pain, Adjuvant (CFA) induced Inflammatory Pain and Arthritic Pain.

Additional models are offered as requested along with end-point readouts such as biomarker analysis, histology, and gene expression analysis. MD Biosciences will also be showcasing its capabilities at additional events this fall including the Inflammations Research Association (IRA) in September and the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) in October.

About MD Biosciences
MD Biosciences provides products and pre-clinical services for companies engaged in inflammations and neurology research. The company is headquartered in Switzerland under Morwell Diagnostics and has specialized laboratories located in the United States, United Kingdom, and Israel. A panel of scientific experts provides companies’ in-depth expertise and technologies to tackle problems and provide flexible drug discovery solutions, enabling smarter results faster.

St Paul, MN March 4, 2008 – MD Biosciences, a global biotechnology company focused in inflammations research, announces the recent launch of its new line of Mouse anti-Collagen Type II (anti-mouse CII) ELISAs. The new Mouse anti-collagen CII ELISAs allow you to measure antibodies generated against the species of collagen used in the induction of arthritis in mice (bovine, human, mouse, rat, chicken, porcine). IgG and two subclasses (IgG2a and IgG2b) are now available as ready-to-use ELISAs that provide fast, accurate and reliable results.

The Collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) model is one of the most widely used models for the study of RA. Collagen type II (CII) in adjuvant is used to induce arthritis by triggering autoreactive B cells, which play an important role in the development of arthritis. This B cell response to CII is strictly T cell dependent, where the B cells predominantly switch isotype to IgG.

The anti-Type II Collagen ELISAs offer many improvements over other commercially available anti-Collagen Type II ELISAs. The kits come ready to use eliminating any plate coating or blocking as well as eliminates lengthy sample incubations. The assays can be completed in under 3 hours using only 100 uL of sample. Performance characteristics such as precision CVs less than 10%, recovery and linearity averaging at 82% and 102% respectively, and cross-reactivity with other collagen types of less than 0.004% provide reliable, accurate and sensitive assays for the detection mouse Collagen Type II antibodies.

The addition of these assays enhances the arthritis products and services currently offered by MD Biosciences. Research products include assays for measuring type II collagen and antibodies, assay for staining type II collagen, induction reagents such as collagen, adjuvant and ArthritoMabÒ antibody cocktail. Pre-clinical services include collagen-induced arthritis (CIA), Antibody induced arthritis (CAIA), Adjuvant Induced Arthritis as well as in vitro disease models providing the researcher a well-rounded approach for using MD Biosciences products in-house as well as outsourcing other areas of their drug discovery platform.

About MD Biosciences
MD Biosciences provides products and pre-clinical services for companies engaged in inflammations and neurology research. The company is headquartered in Switzerland under Morwell Diagnostics and has specialized laboratories located in Minnesota, Glasgow, and Israel. A panel of scientific experts provides companies’ in-depth expertise and technologies to tackle problems and provide flexible drug discovery solutions, enabling smarter results faster.

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The information in this press release should be considered accurate only as of the date of the release. MD Biosciences has no intention of updating and specifically disclaims any duty to update the information in these press releases.