Asuragen has its roots in Ambion, “The RNA Company.” Ambion is a molecular biology reagent company with a strong focus on RNA. Asuragen is the successor entity to Ambion. Ambion was formed in 1989 by Matt Winkler, then a University of Texas professor. With a compounded annual revenue growth rate of 30%, Ambion quickly grew to become the preeminent reagent company focused around RNA.
In 1996, Ambion started developing molecular diagnostic capabilities in preparation for a future where it predicted that RNA-based molecular diagnostics would play an increasingly important role in managing disease. Ambion developed Armored RNA®, a technology for producing stable RNA standards for use in diagnostics. Armored RNA® has been licensed to most of the large diagnostics companies and generates over $1 million a year in licensing revenue. In 2000, Ambion Diagnostics became a formal division of Ambion. Ambion Diagnostics put in place a cGMP manufacturing facility and staffed the division with the appropriate development, manufacturing, and regulatory employees.
In 2002, Ambion identified the emerging field of miRNAs as an important future research area. Ambion produced research tools for miRNAs that were used by researchers throughout the world. Ambion scientists used these cutting edge technologies to study miRNA expression patterns in a variety of normal and disease samples. It became apparent that miRNAs are both powerful diagnostic analytes and therapeutic entities, akin to siRNAs, which are now being actively developed as therapeutics by companies such as Sirna, Alnylam, ISIS, and others. In 2005, Matt Winkler, Ambion’s founder and CEO, decided to sell Ambion’s research reagent business and focus his efforts on a new company to pursue the substantial opportunities offered by future miRNA-based therapeutics and diagnostics products.
On March 1, 2006, Ambion completed the sale of its Research Products division to Applied Biosystems Group (NYSE: ABI), an Applera Corporation business, resulting in the simultaneous spin-off and creation of Asuragen, Inc. A number of Ambion’s senior managers combined Ambion’s Diagnostic and Service divisions, along with about 15 members of the Research Product division’s researchers to form Asuragen, a new company with about 125 employees. The new company is leveraging its RNA and miRNA expertise into molecular diagnostics, pharmacogenomic services, and therapeutics. |
