WaferGen Biosystems, Inc. announced the launch of its new SmartChip TE product -- a PCR-based target enrichment solution for sample preparation prior to targeted re-sequencing on Next-Gen platforms. As clinical Next-Gen sequencing rapidly expands into the mainstream molecular testing market, the growth of this market segment is expected to be explosive. Some analysts project that the market for targeted clinical sequencing alone will reach $750 million by 2015. SmartChip TE addresses CLIA-certified and clinical research laboratories' significant unmet needs in sequencing-based testing by providing superior flexibility, specificity, and sensitivity. The superior performance of this new product is based on WaferGen's proprietary technology that relies on massively parallel singleplex PCR reactions, where amplification is cleaner and better controlled, thereby providing more accurate results in the downstream sequencing step. Each target is amplified in an individual reaction, yielding close to equimolar products without the possible side reactions that occur in competing systems employing highly multiplexed PCR and/or target capture. Following successful proof-of-concept studies at Ghent University and a major US-based teaching hospital, SmartChip TE has been performing well at several major commercial clinical sequencing service providers including BGI and Ambry Genetics. An important part of the SmartChip TE solution is a database of validated assays covering the whole human exome, which was developed in collaboration with the laboratory of Dr. Jo Vandesompele at Ghent University. Having PCR assays ready on demand provides customers with fast turnaround times for their custom panels. In addition, it enables them to build the required flexibility in their study design by allowing them to easily change genes or targets in future studies. Furthermore, building upon three decades of molecular diagnostics laboratories' experience with PCR target amplification, identified variants can be confirmed with qPCR (or traditional Sanger sequencing) using the exact same PCR assay as deployed in the initial Next-Gen test. While available as a separate product with a low capital cost, one can also envision that SmartChip TE will add important utility to the full scale SmartChip System under the MyDesign concept, which already offers a wide array of nano-qPCR applications with best-in-class flexibility, high levels of sensitivity and dynamic range without the need for pre-amplification, and a very low cost per reaction.

WaferGen Biosystems, Inc. announced that at the special meeting of the stockholders to be held on May 30, 2013 it will propose to approve a grant of discretionary authority to board of directors to amend Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation to increase the number of authorized shares of common stock, $0.001 par value per share, from 300,000,000 to up to 1,000,000,000 at any time within one year after stockholder approval is obtained; and to approve a grant of discretionary authority to board of directors to amend Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation to effect a reverse stock split of outstanding shares of common stock, at any time within one year after stockholder approval is obtained, by a ratio of not less than one-for-ten and not more than one-for-100, with the exact ratio to be set at a whole number within this range as determined by board of directors in its sole discretion.

WaferGen Biosystems, Inc. announced a co-marketing agreement with Qiagen K.K., a subsidiary of QIAGEN N.V. for the joint promotion of certain products in Japan in the areas of genomics platforms such as Next-Gen sequencing (NGS) and qPCR. With the joint offering, customers will be able to seamlessly plan and execute complex research projects involving molecular biomarker discovery with NGS, where WaferGen's SmartChip will offer a powerful platform for high-throughput qPCR-based target validation. The purpose of the commercial relationship is to help life science researchers accelerate the process of developing markers that are potential candidates for molecular diagnostics by adding WaferGen's SmartChip solution to facilitate biomarker validation. Further customer-facing synergies will be achieved by offering QIAGEN's PCRarrays on the SmartChip and subsequently compatible NGS panels from QIAGEN.