Over the past few years, we’ve seen significant technology advancements and market changes within the life sciences research and clinical diagnostics segments. Our core technology is well poised to provide important solutions to the emerging customer needs in these areas.

These changes have driven a need for testing platforms that can offer multiple results on a single sample, or multiplexing. However, as different multiplexing technologies have emerged, some of which can test for thousands of results per sample, it is evident that focused results are often more valuable than more results.

Over the last few months, we have achieved several significant milestones. Each of these demonstrates the continued adoption of xMAP technology in several key market segments. These recent events include one of the world’s largest clinical reference laboratories acquiring multiple instruments from one of our immunodiagnostics partners, another partner receiving the first FDA clearance in the market for their Cystic Fibrosis assay and a breakthrough paper on microRNA touted by some as the long sought connection between gene expression and protein expression.

ADOPTION IN LARGE U.S. REFERENCE LAB
Zeus Scientific, a Luminex partner, markets xMAP-based kits for autoimmune disease. Earlier this year, their distribution partner entered a multi-unit agreement for these kits with one of the country’s largest clinical reference laboratories. Selection of the technology by a leading reference lab is an important validation statement. These labs carefully scrutinize available options before making a purchasing decision. In this high volume setting, the consumption of tests per instrument and per account is significant and has resulted in increased consumables and royalty sales for Luminex. This represents a success in one of our key segments, immunodiagnostics. We look forward to many more such agreements as partners continue to develop clinical tests on our platform.

FIRST FDA CLEARED CF TEST
In the molecular diagnostics segment, our partner Tm Bioscience is the first company to receive FDA clearance for a multiplexed Cystic Fibrosis (CF) screening assay. Tm’s molecular assays are built on Luminex’s xMAP technology. CF testing volumes have grown dramatically following the release of testing guidelines by the American College of Medical Genetics and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. This has created a strong demand in molecular diagnostics labs for automated solutions. Tm is aggressively marketing this test to laboratories in the U.S. and Europe. We believe this represents an example of the power of our technology. It also represents the benefits our partners bring to our unique business model.  Luminex licensed our multiplexing platform to the talented assay development group at Tm, resulting in the first FDA cleared CF test.

microRNA BREAKTHROUGH
Most recently, in the Life Sciences research segment, xMAP technology was featured in a landmark article in the prestigious scientific journal Nature. The article describes the correlation of microRNA, a recently discovered form of RNA, in the expression of proteins by genes. Cells convert DNA into messenger RNA (mRNA) and then into protein. There are many known mechanisms for regulating the conversion of DNA into mRNA, a process called gene expression. However, scientists have been puzzled with the mechanisms that translate mRNA into protein. The Nature article demonstrates that these new found microRNAs play a key role in regulating this translation process.  Researchers at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, and their collaborators at other leading institutions used the Luminex system to perform their multiplexed experiments. They designed their own research applications for use on the system demonstrating its flexibility and utility in this important market segment. 

The above represent several recent and important milestones for Luminex. Others have occurred recently as well, such as the licensing of xMAP technology by the world’s leader in women’s health and HPV testing, Digene. We hope and expect that these successes will continue as we, our partners and key end users realize the capabilities of xMAP technology. We will continue to work hard to capitalize on the technology’s potential and look forward to reporting on additional activities in the future.

Looking ahead, Luminex is positioned for long-term growth with a multi-dimensional strategy that focuses on optimizing partner relationships, building an assay menu by pursuing content development, aggressively exercising our intellectual property, and leading the industry as a market driven company. Luminex values the customer as the core of our business, and as we work together with our partners we will continue to lead the way toward new discoveries, new diagnostics, and a better understanding of human health.

Patrick J. Balthrop
President and Chief Executive Officer

Patrick J. Balthrop, President and CEO, joined Luminex in May of 2004. He was elected to the Board of Directors shortly thereafter.

Prior to joining Luminex, Mr. Balthrop served as President of Fisher Healthcare, a Fisher Scientific International company. He also served in a number of leadership positions for over 20 years with Abbott Laboratories, primarily in Abbott's Diagnostics Division, including head of worldwide commercial diagnostics operations. Mr. Balthrop has over 25 years of experience in the industry including R&D, manufacturing, sales and marketing, intellectual property and technology management, and international operations.

Mr. Balthrop holds an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management of Northwestern University, and a B.S. in Biology from Spring Hill College.  In addition to his Luminex responsibilities, Mr. Balthrop also serves on the Board of Directors of Howard Brown Health Center in Chicago.