JW Biotech Secures Exclusive Domestic Sales Rights for US Stryve Imaging Equipment

[Asia Economy Reporter Jang Hyowon] GW Biotech has signed a contract for exclusive domestic sales with a global bio company.

GW Biotech, a KOSDAQ-listed company (CEO Yang Jaewon), announced on the 4th that it has acquired the exclusive domestic sales rights for imaging equipment from the US-based Thrive Bioscience.

Through this contract, the company has been granted exclusive sales rights for imaging equipment supplied by Thrive, including CellAssist and CellAssist 50, and will distribute these products domestically.

Thrive Bio’s flagship product, 'CellAssist,' is a device that captures and analyzes all cells within a plate, specializing in various cell culture monitoring and analysis.

It enables analysis and monitoring without fluorescent labeling or staining of cells and offers lenses with various magnifications (4x, 10x, 20x) for comparative observation. The well plates are compatible from 6 to 384 wells, and measurement and management can be tailored to each condition through cell culture plate barcoding.

In particular, it provides outstanding technology for confirming structures such as stem cells and organoids using 100 focal planes (100 focal plane, z-stack), attracting expectations for active use by domestic and international research institutions.

The higher-grade product, the CellAssist 50 model, allows simultaneous observation and monitoring of 50 microplates through automation, supports a stitch function that merges measurement images from each area into one, and offers remote access features for PCs and other devices.

GW Biotech, which participated in the ASCB (American Society for Cell Biology) held last month in Washington, USA, to acquire the exclusive sales rights, plans to start distributing the products from 2023 and drive full-scale sales. The company also plans to participate in the SLAS (Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening) conference held next month in San Diego, USA, to promote the products.

A company representative said, “CellAssist, for which we have obtained sales rights, is a high-performance imaging device that automatically collects images over time, enabling reproducible cell culture.” He added, “It can capture and analyze hundreds of high-resolution cell images at multiple magnifications within minutes using a microscope, and automatically records the shooting time, enabling a higher level of experimentation.”

He continued, “Since this product is known as the only imaging device capable of analyzing the structure of organoids created from stem cells, the exclusive domestic sales contract is of great significance,” and added, “We will do our best to ensure the successful domestic launch of this product.”

Meanwhile, Thrive Bioscience, headquartered in Boston, USA, is a global bio company that combines microscopy, robotics, and software to provide automated devices and software for cell culture imaging and analysis. The company is developing '3D cell imaging' implementation software that allows easy observation and analysis of cell morphological changes without fluorescent labeling or staining, attracting attention in the industry.