Vector Laboratories has bought Quanta BioDesign to add bioconjugate and payload delivery design to its existing biopharma and life science capabilities.
Quanta, founded in 1997, is the inventor of discrete polyethylene glycol (dPEG) technology used in the development of life science reagents and assays. The Plain City, OH-based company’s PEG technology is different from traditional PEGs because each dPEG product represents a single compound with a single molecular weight.
Adding PEG to a molecule or surface, a process known as PEGylation, can provide benefits including increased water solubility, decreased immunogenicity, and extended circulation in the bloodstream, leading chemists to PEGylate molecules to make them better drug candidates.
Traditional PEGs have broad distributions of molecular weights. Single molecular weight, discrete-length PEG chains such as Quanta’s dPEG products can simplify peptide analysis compared to other products that contain a range of PEG chain lengths and molecular weights.
Quanta developed its broad line of dPEG-based building blocks, linkers reagents, and other products to support drug discovery and diagnostic development programs. Applications include solid-phase peptide synthesis, reagents for adding biotin tags to molecules, and ruthenium-catalyzed reactions.
In a statement, Lisa Sellers, PhD, the CEO of Vector Laboratories, explained how the acquisition “goes beyond standard linker capabilities to serve broader industrial segments, expanding what’s possible for customers in manufacturing components for their end products.” Sellers added that Vector Laboratories can “now offer a breadth of options to provide the best solution for our customers’ challenges.”
The takeover comes four months after Vector Laboratories disclosed the acquisitions of Click Chemistry Tools and Fluoroprobes. Vector Laboratories struck those earlier deals to add click chemistry linkers and labeling reagents and fluorescent probes and dyes to its portfolio.
