PLEASANTON, Calif. – QuantaLife, Inc. has received a $244,000 Therapeutic Discovery Project Tax Credit from the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Health and Human Services to support the development of Droplet Digital™ PCR.

Droplet Digital PCR makes it possible to count individual nucleic acid (RNA/DNA) molecules by partitioning samples into droplets, each of which can be amplified using PCR and digitized to provide absolute quantitative results. The platform was recently introduced at the American Society of Human Genetics and the Association for Molecular Pathology meetings. The QuantaLife Droplet Digital PCR system will be commercially available for research use in mid-2011.

QuantaLife will use the credit to continue the development and commercialization of Droplet Digital PCR. Early studies with Droplet Digital PCR demonstrate several compelling advantages, including increased depth of detection of rare target molecules in highly homologous backgrounds and improved quantitative resolution between samples with similar DNA / RNA content. QuantaLife Droplet Digital PCR achieves digital resolution without the expense of microfluidic chips. It requires minimal hands-on time and offers broad application flexibility.

The credit is in line with a 5-year, $6.2M grant that QuantaLife secured from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in September 2010 to support the development of Droplet Digital PCR technology for detection of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteria, a major cause of staph infection in hospital patients.

About the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010

In March 2010 the federal government signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of

2010. Part of the aim of this statute is to augment research supporting discovery of lifesaving therapies, reduce healthcare expenses, and improve competitiveness of domestic medical technology companies through the Qualifying Therapeutic Discovery Project Program. QuantaLife’s tax credit was awarded as a grant under this program.

About QuantaLife, Inc.

QuantaLife has developed the 3rd generation of PCR technology that quantifies DNA molecules by Droplet Digital PCR. Droplet Digital PCR measures target nucleic acid molecules with unrivaled absolute quantitative resolution and sensitivity. Applications include copy number variation (CNV), mutation detection, and gene expression analysis. The company’s mission is to provide tools that accelerate new strategies for the diagnosis and treatment of inherited disorders, cancer, and infectious disease.

SOURCE QuantaLife, Inc.