WaferGen Completes Merger and Private Placement of $10.7 Million

FREMONT, Calif., June 06, 2007 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- WaferGen Bio-systems, Inc. a Nevada corporation today announced that on May 31, 2007 it completed a merger with WaferGen, Inc., a Delaware corporation. WaferGen Bio-systems will now continue to pursue WaferGen, Inc.'s business involving development, manufacture and sale of systems for stem cell research and cell biology, including for gene expression and genotyping for life sciences, pharmaceutical drug discovery, biomarker discovery and diagnostic products industries. WaferGen Bio-systems has retained WaferGen, Inc.'s senior management, led by its co-founder, Chairman & CEO, Alnoor Shivji, to serve as senior management and as directors of WaferGen Bio-systems. Alnoor Shivji, co-founded and managed several previous high-tech companies, including Cyras Systems, Fiberlane Communications (Canada) (split into Cerent and Siara Systems) and OSIware.

In connection with the merger, WaferGen Bio-systems completed a private placement of $10.7 million of common stock and warrants to accredited investors. The company plans to use the proceeds for general working capital, including strengthening of corporate infrastructure and product offerings, including further development of its innovative whole genome, high-throughput SmartChip(TM) system. Rodman and Renshaw acted as exclusive placement agent for the private offering.

"This represents a major milestone for WaferGen, positioning our company for accelerated growth," said Alnoor Shivji. "The financial resources and corporate visibility provided by our recapitalization and financing will enable us to accelerate sales and marketing activities around our current SmartSlide(TM) products, further the development of our SmartChip products and recruit additional key team members for our operations."

The SmartSlide family of products is based on a groundbreaking micro-incubator that features fluidic exchange designed to mirror physiological conditions. For the first time ever, life science researchers will have the tools to enable them to perform time lapse imaging studies to characterize, differentiate and proliferate cells and grow stem, primary and other difficult to cultivate cells in consistently optimal conditions. Current customers of the SmartSlide system include: Mayo Clinic, Harvard University, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Research Center, University of Southern California, University of California, Los Angeles and leading pharmaceutical companies.

WaferGen's SmartChip system is being developed to utilize semi-conductor, optical and ink jet printing technologies, and novel customized chemistries built into the content-ready chip, to facilitate experiments without the need for advanced preparation of reagents. This automation is expected to set new standards in performance, throughput and cost-effectiveness and address the emerging needs of the genetic analysis market. Pharmaceutical companies, academic institutions, and agricultural, environmental and governmental agencies will be targeted as customers for the SmartChip system.

The company also announced that David H. Gelfand, Ph.D., has been named Chief Scientific Officer of the company. Dr. Gelfand is one of the pioneers of PCR (polymerase chain reaction) having helped initially develop the technique in the 1980s while at Cetus Corporation. He also is recognized for his leading role in the emergence and evolution of DNA sequencing while at Roche Molecular Systems, where he was Vice President, Discovery Research and Director for the Program in Core Research. Dr. Gelfand holds 50 patents and in 1990 was the recipient of the US Distinguished Inventor Award for Taq DNA Polymerase.

About WaferGen

WaferGen is focused on the development of state of the art systems for gene expression, genotyping and stem cell research for the life science and pharmaceutical industries. WaferGen's products are aimed at professionals who perform genetic analysis and cell biology, primarily at pharmaceutical and biotech companies, academic and private research centers and diagnostics companies involved in biomarker research. Through its SmartChip and SmartSlide products, WaferGen is aiding professionals in re-defining performance standards with significant time and cost savings in the fields of pharmacogenomics and toxicogenomics.

For more information about the company, go to http://www.wafergen.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains certain "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended. Such statements may include statements regarding the efficacy and intended use of the company's technologies, the timelines for bringing such products to market and the availability of funding sources for continued development of such products and other statements that are not historical facts, including statements which may be preceded by the words "intends," "may," "will," "plans," "expects," "anticipates," "projects," "predicts," "estimates," "aims," "believes," "hopes," "potential" or similar words. For such statements, the company claims the protection of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, are based on certain assumptions and are subject to various known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of the company. Actual results may differ materially from the expectations contained in the forward-looking statements. Factors that may cause such differences include the risks that: (i) the company may be unsuccessful in commercially developing its products or in achieving market acceptance of new and relatively unproven technologies; (ii) the company will need to raise additional capital to meet its business requirements in the future and the company may not be able to do so on reasonable terms or at all; (iii) the company's proprietary intellectual property rights may not adequately protect its products and technologies; (iv) the company expects intense competition in its target markets, including from companies that have much greater resources than the company, and there can be no assurance that the company will be able to compete effectively. More detailed information about the company and the risk factors that may affect the realization of forward-looking statements is set forth in the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the company's Current Report on Form 8-K filed with the SEC on June 5, 2007. Investors and security holders are urged to read this document free of charge on the SEC's web site at http://www.sec.gov. The company does not undertake to publicly update or revise its forward-looking statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

    Contacts:

    WaferGen

    Mona Chadha

    

    510-651-4450


    For Investor Relations

    Jennifer Larson

    

    415 409 2729

CONTACT: Mona Chadha of WaferGen Bio-systems, Inc., +1-510-651-4450,; Investors, Jennifer Larson, +1-415-409-2729,, for WaferGen Bio-systems, Inc. mona@wafergen.com jlarson@labfive.com

Web site: http://www.wafergen.com/

Ticker Symbol: (NASDAQ-OTCBB:WGBS)

Terms and conditions of use apply
Copyright © 2007 PR Newswire Association LLC. All rights reserved.
A United Business Media Company

Latest Pharma Industry News...

Daily MedNews
Pharma Industry News
New Drug Applications
New Drug Approvals
Clinical Trial Results
Generic Drug Approvals