July 14, 2011

Microbix receives US$250,000 milestone payment for LumiSort

Biotechnology company Microbix Biosystems Inc. announced that its Animal Reproduction Industry partner has made a milestone payment of US$250,000 after its audit of engineering progress in Microbix' LumiSort sperm sexing technology.

This is the second in a series of milestone payments that combined will complete the total commitment of US$2 million.

"This third-party review and payment is confirmation of LumiSort's progress and potential Livestock market changing capabilities," said William J. Gastle, Microbix' Chief Executive Officer. "It provides Microbix and its shareholders with great confidence as we move to commercialization within the next 18 months."

"In fact, based on projected adoption rates provided by our partner, including expected uptake from their customer base and other dairy and beef producers, we now estimate that revenue to Microbix will begin as early as 2013, growing quickly and could exceed US$100 million annually by 2015," he said.

Engineering studies have supported Microbix' prediction that LumiSort technology will enable the analysis and separation of sperm cells up to 10 times faster, and with higher yield, than current market technology.

Now within 18 months of launch, the Toronto-based company is accelerating its program to sign license agreements with additional distributors of products for livestock reproduction.

In 2010, Microbix announced a partnership with one of the largest suppliers of livestock reproduction products in the world, which has invested in the program through a milestone-based, US$2 million investment, and will rapidly deploy LumiSort into their markets. This year, Microbix announced the engagement of Lathrop Engineering Inc., a leading Silicon Valley technology development company, toward the engineering and delivery of the LumiSort instrument.