Newswise — PHILADELPHIA—(July 9, 2015)—The Wistar Institute, an international biomedical research leader in cancer, immunology and infectious disease, and Rockland Immunochemicals, Inc., a pioneering biologics manufacturing company known for its high quality antibodies for research and diagnostic test development, announce a new multidimensional partnership to advance Wistar’s biologics and biomarker pipeline.
“We are proud to have Rockland as our partner,” said Heather Steinman, Ph.D., M.B.A., Wistar’s vice president for Business Development and executive director, Technology Transfer. “We are cross-fertilizing Wistar’s cutting-edge clinically-validated biomarker pipeline, proteomics capabilities and translational research discovery platforms with Rockland’s more than 50 years of industry expertise and biologics know-how. Together, our scientists can efficiently and seamlessly work to generate novel proprietary materials critical for moving Wistar discoveries to the next phase of product development while adding value to select assets and generating new royalty streams.” Steinman’s vision to fully leverage Wistar’s research infrastructure and stellar science drives the creation of new, multifaceted, and impactful partnerships with leading industry experts such as Rockland, which is based in Limerick, Pennsylvania.
“This partnership has many obvious benefits,” said Richard H. Smith, chief operating officer of Rockland. “Wistar scientists need high quality biologic materials to use as research tools, components for diagnostic tests and starting points for therapeutic candidate selection. Rockland’s team can deliver on finely-crafted, fully-validated antibody and protein reagents. In parallel, Wistar and Rockland are pursuing significant research initiatives and ramping up operations to launch first sales of unique collections of prized Wistar materials. There is so much momentum and high-impact potential when you have a partnership between two great organizations with rich histories of scientific discovery and collaboration.”
Wistar and Rockland are designing a roadmap for value-added collaborative opportunities to advance work across the translational gap (between fundamental science and clinical applications).
“Wistar is committed to discovery research for the public good and we amplify and strengthen Wistar science with highly-respected partners like Rockland,” said Dario C. Altieri, M.D., president and CEO of The Wistar Institute, Wistar Institute Cancer Center director, and the Robert and Penny Fox Distinguished Professor. “Our scientists pursue basic, fundamental science that is the bedrock to understanding and curing disease, but we can’t do it in a vacuum. Because of the highly-collaborative and creative entrepreneurial work the Wistar and Rockland teams are contributing, together, we will get from bench to bedside with the speed that only synergy can generate.”
The Wistar Institute is an international leader in biomedical research with special expertise in cancer research and vaccine development. Founded in 1892 as the first independent nonprofit biomedical research institute in the country, Wistar has held the prestigious National Cancer Institute Cancer Center designation since 1972, and works actively to ensure that research advances move from the laboratory to the clinic as quickly as possible. www.wistar.org
Rockland Immunochemicals, Inc. has supported the biopharma and diagnostic industries for over 50 years with “antibodies and antibody based tools” for basic research, assay development and preclinical studies. With manufacturing facilities in Pennsylvania, Rockland is engaged in the development of new technologies for the production of antibodies for western blotting, immunohistochemistry (IHC), immunofluorescence microscopy, ELISA and FLOW cytometry. www.rockland-inc.com.
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