Founded in 1993, Nanogen has a strong history of innovation and technology development for diagnostic products. Initially focusing on enabling personalized medicine utilizing electronic microarrays, we have since acquired and added resources that have expanded our position in the diagnostics market to include molecular infectious disease testing and rapid point-of-care cardiac biomarker testing. The pipeline below illustrates our history of innovation throughout the years.
1993: Nanogen was founded by Howard Birndorf, founder of Hybritech, Gen-Probe and IDEC, and Michael J. Heller, a professor of bioengineering at UC San Diego to commercialize their vision of personalized medicine. They started the company with four employees in rented spaces in San Diego, CA.
1998: Nanogen went public, raising $64 MM in its IPO (initial public offering).
2000: Launched the NanoChip® Molecular Biology Workstation (MBW), a general laboratory system for molecular biology applications utilizing an electronic microarray, upon which homebrew molecular assays could be developed in clinical and research laboratories.
2001: Nanogen and Aventis create joint venture - Nanogen Recogenomix to develop synthetic oligonucleotide chemistries for molecular biology application.
2004: Acquired SynX Pharma, Inc., a point-of-care diagnostics company with intellectual property rights to biomarkers for cardiovascular disease and traumatic brain injury.
2004: Acquired Epoch Biosciences, Inc., a real-time PCR technology company with strong intellectual property and proprietary products for molecular biology applications, including the minor groove binder (MGB) technology.
2005: Launched the NanoChip®400 System, the second generation 400-site electronic microarray targeting clinical diagnostic applications.
2006: Acquired cardiac business assets of Spectral Diagnostics, Inc., including intellectual property for use of multiple cardiac biomarkers in a single lateral flow test device.
2006: Nanogen first to receive 510(K) clearance for a rapid congestive heart failure test using the NT-proBNP; license acquired from Synx Pharma.
2006: Awarded $4.5 million contract from U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to develop a unique multi-analyte Point-Of-Care (POC) diagnostic assay for Influenza in support of the US Government's efforts to strengthen its readiness for a potential influenza pandemic.
2007: Receive key patent updates to cardiac biomarkers and use of multiple markers in predicting cardiac mortality.
2008: Patent issued for PCR amplification methods that differentiate Nanogen product from traditional PCR technology and provides for proprietary solutions.
2008: Awarded a new $10.4 million, two-year contract from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to develop a multi-analyte molecular diagnostic assay for Influenza utilizing proprietary PCR technology.