Aclara Biosciences, Inc. (also stylized as ACLARA Biosciences) was a medical technology company focused on developing applications of

microfluidics Microfluidics refers to the behavior, precise control, and manipulation of fluids that are geometrically constrained to a small scale (typically sub-millimeter) at which surface forces dominate volumetric forces. It is a multidisciplinary field th ...

for use in laboratory testing. It was publicly traded on NASDAQ under the symbol ACLA.

History

Aclara Biosciences was founded in 1995 as Soane BioSciences, Inc. in

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

. It was renamed Aclara Biosciences, Inc. in 1998. The company subsequently relocated its headquarters to Mountain View,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. Its

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investme ...

of 9 million shares took place on the NASDAQ stock exchange in March 2000. Also in 2000, Aclara was sued by Caliper Technologies for allegedly misappropriating Caliper's

trade secret Trade secrets are a type of intellectual property that includes formulas, practices, processes, designs, instruments, patterns, or compilations of information that have inherent economic value because they are not generally known or readily ...

s in regard to the latter company's microfluidics technology. This suit represented one of several legal battles between the two companies, each of which accused the other of infringing on their patents. On October 26, 2000, a jury in California found Aclara guilty of misappropriating trade secrets and awarded

Caliper A caliper (British spelling also calliper, or in plurale tantum sense a pair of calipers) is a device used to measure the dimensions of an object. Many types of calipers permit reading out a measurement on a ruled scale, a dial, or a digital d ...

$52,568,000. In 2004, it was reported that Aclara would be purchased by Virologic for $180 million in stock, the equivalent of $4.78 per share. In December 2004, Virologic completed its acquisition of Aclara for $160 million in stock; each of Aclara's shareholders received 1.7 shares of Virologic stock for each share of Aclara stock they had owned.

Products

Aclara received 96 patents during its history. Its best-known product was its proprietary eTag (short for " electrophoretic tag") assay technology designed for use on

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, res ...

s and nucleic acids. In October 2004, Aclara entered into an arrangement with GlaxoSmithKline to test these assays for potential use in

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

drug development Drug development is the process of bringing a new pharmaceutical drug to the market once a lead compound has been identified through the process of drug discovery. It includes preclinical research on microorganisms and animals, filing for re ...

References

American companies established in 1995 Companies disestablished in 2004 Medical technology companies of the United States Microfluidics Companies based in Mountain View, California 1995 establishments in Delaware 2004 disestablishments in California Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq Biotechnology companies established in 1995 {{Med-tech-company-stub