Investors' Circle

Aptagen's Executive Summary. Aptagen is a biotechnology company offering aptamer products and services as reagents, diagnostic and biomarker discovery tools, as well as for use in drug discovery, targeted delivery for therapeutics, and bio-industrial applications.

Aptagen develops and manufactures aptamers — ligands of RNA, DNA, and peptide oligonucleotides that bind to a variety of target antigens, sometimes referred to as "chemical antibodies" or "DNA antibodies." Aptazymes are aptamers with enzymatic activity. A subclass of aptazymes called molecular switches is analogous to molecular beacons for fluorescent detection of analytes in test samples — examples include allosteric ribozymes, also known as riboswitches.

Aptagen's business plan is a dual approach to replacing current technology. The retail arm provides customers with an industry-first "Apta-Index™" that offers a low-cost service for synthesizing known aptamers for research, while the R&D contract-service arm develops novel aptamers against new targets.