Merck Millipore purchases Single Molecule Counting rights from Singulex

Merck Millipore has agreed a deal that will see it assume exclusive rights to the life science research business of Singulex, the provider of Single Molecule Counting (SMC) technology for clinical diagnostics and scientific discovery.

The deal will see Merck Millipore pay Singulex an upfront fee, royalties and additional milestone-based payments in exchange for the rights to further develop and commercialise the SMC technology for research applications worldwide.

SMC technology combines signal enhancement and background reduction with low volume sampling to achieve ultra-high sensitivity protein detection.

This purchase will expand Merck Millipore's Protein Detection business platform with the addition of several instruments, assays and services, including the gold-standard Erenna immunoassay platform.

Udit Batra, president and chief executive officer of Merck Millipore, said: "The Erenna platform offers the unique advantage of unrivaled sensitivity and precision and will be a strong addition to our Protein Detection franchise."

Merck Millipore will soon be merged with Sigma-Aldrich, following the completion of parent company Merck KGaA's takeover of the firm.