Japanese firm offers challenge to Affymetrix' dominance of gene chip market

12 February 2001

Japanese biotechnology company TUM Gene has developed a new type of DNAchip that may allow it to mount a challenge against US firm Affymetrix, the market leader in application-specific oligonucleotide microarrays.

According to a report in the Nikkei Weekly, TUM Gene believes its DNA chip is highly-sensitive, re-usable and relatively inexpensive. Moreover, it claims that the chips do not contravene patents held by Affymetrix, which in 2000 achieved revenues of $200 million, a rise of 84% over 1999. Affymetrix has recently won a preliminary judgement in a patent dispute with Incyte Genomics and Hyseq, re-asserting the integrity of four of the company's US patents covering DNA array technologies.

TUM Gene's chip technology has been developed in collaboration with Japan's Kyushu University, and uses a system of detecting changes in electrical current to reveal target gene binding, rather than optical methods used in most other commercially-available systems. This electrical method is more sensitive, according to TUM Gene, and dispenses with the need to amplify genetic material before testing.

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