Affymetrix licenses key patents to Invitrogen

US bioassay specialist Affymetrix has granted a non-exclusive, worldwide license to fellow USA-based Invitrogen Corp covering a number of patents that will allow it to manufacture and sell spotted nucleic acid microarrays for use in research. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

Affymterix began selling the first commercial microarray in 1994 and, since then, its GeneChip technology has become the industry standard in molecular biology expertise, used by the world's top pharmaceutical, diagnostic and biotechnology companies, as well as leading academic, government and not-for-profit research institutes.

The deal can be seen as part of Carlsbad, California-headquarterered Invitrogen's long-term ambitions. Last year, the firm bought publicly-held life sciences company BioSource International in an all-cash transaction totaling around $130.0 million (Marketletter August 1, 2005). The company, which employs approximately 4,800 people worldwide, saw revenues of $1.2 billion in full-year 2005.