Announcement—Clontech Laboratories, Inc. partners with Flash Therapeutics SAS to provide highly concentrated purified lentiviral particles

Mountain View, CA—May 5, 2014—Clontech Laboratories, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Takara Bio Inc., today announced that it has partnered with Flash Therapeutics SAS to combine Clontech's Living Colors fluorescent protein and Tet-On 3G technologies with Flash Therapeutics' expertise in providing the highest quality ready-to-use lentiviral particles as vectors for gene delivery.

Carol Lou, General Manager of Clontech Laboratories, Inc., comments: "Clontech has a long history of leadership in the development of viral gene delivery tools, including numerous innovative Lenti-X, Retro-X, and Adeno-X products. We are pleased to collaborate with Flash Therapeutics to provide high-quality, concentrated lentiviral particles which will make it easier to deliver Clontech's technologies at high copy numbers to virtually any cell type, including primary cells."

"We strongly believe that using highly concentrated and purified lentiviral tools is the key factor for successful cell transduction, especially for hard-to-transfect and delicate cells", says Pascale Bouillé, Flash Therapeutics Chief Executive Officer. "The combination of Flash Therapeutics' process and Clontech's technologies provides our customers with a unique and optimal gene delivery offer."

The initial product offering will include somatic cell reprogramming kits used to generate induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) as well as ready-to-use lentiviral particles for fluorescent labeling of whole cells and of specific subcellular structures. The somatic cell reprogramming kits leverage Clontech's Tet-On 3G technology to provide tight transcriptional control of genes involved in maintaining embryonic stem cell-like properties, in order to generate iPS cells.

About Clontech Laboratories, Inc.

Clontech Laboratories, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Takara Bio Inc., develops, manufactures, and distributes a wide range of life science research reagents under the Clontech and Takara brands. Key products include SMARTer cDNA synthesis kits for a variety of samples and applications, including NGS; high-performance qPCR and PCR reagents (including the Ex Taq, LA Taq, Titanium, and Advantage enzymes); RT enzymes and SMART library construction kits; the innovative In-Fusion cloning system; Tet-based inducible gene expression systems; and a range of Macherey-Nagel nucleic acid purification tools. These and other products support applications including gene discovery, regulation, and function; protein expression and purification; RNAi and stem cell studies; and plant and food research. For more information, visit www.clontech.com.

About Takara Bio Inc.

Takara Bio Inc. is an innovative biotechnology company based in Shiga, Japan. As a world leader in biotechnology research and development, Takara Bio was the first company to market PCR technology in Japan and is also the developer of the RetroNectin reagent, which is used as a world-standard in gene therapy protocols. In addition to providing research reagents and equipment to the life science research market, Takara Bio has active research and product development activities in the fields of gene and cell-based therapy, and agricultural biotechnology; and is committed to preventing disease and improving the quality of life for all people through the use of biotechnology. Through strategic alliances with other industry leaders, the Company aims to extend its reach around the world. More information is available at http://www.takara-bio.com.

About Flash Therapeutics SAS

Flash Therapeutics SAS (Toulouse, France) is a biotechnology company that develops, manufactures and markets gene transfer tools for the development of cellular and animal models for the validation of candidate genes and drug screening. The company provides its expertise in producing highly concentrated and purified viral vectors and the knowledge required for the development of predictive experimental cellular models and genetically modified animals. For more information visit www.Flash Therapeutics.com.

Contact Information

Clontech Laboratories, Inc.
Lorna Neilson, Ph.D.
Director, Business Development
Clontech Laboratories, Inc.
1290 Terra Bella Avenue
Mountain View, CA 94043
Tel: 650.919.7372
Email: lorna_neilson@clontech.com