Grace Century assists Provia in market entry for its 'Proviasette' bio-specimen storage container into Middle East

The Proviasette is built to efficiently store, access and organize frozen bio-specimens in compliance with best practices. Originally designed for snap frozen and OCT embedded tissue, the Proviasette has been optimized for storage in liquid nitrogen (vapor phase) and -80°C mechanical freezers.

Biobanking of cancer samples has been growing in the U.S. for many years to support genomic and proteomic research (studying disease pathways in human specimens as well as animals).

In the United States, biobanking historically was mostly conducted in academic medical cancer centers and funded primarily from individual research program grant funds. Researchers would use portions of these grants to fund the process of collecting tissue for their own use. Because of that, samples were collected in inconsistent ways and stored in tin foil, polyethylene bags, and glass vials (a dangerous medium, as glass can become unstable when removed from low temperatures). It also led to fragmented repositories managed independently throughout the academic medical center.

Over the last decade, increased funding has been awarded and invested in biobanking for several reasons: 1) Grant funding sources have begun measuring the quality of research bio-specimens, identifying problems and proposing resolutions; 2) More funding for direct biobanking programs have been initiated so that samples would be pooled into shared resources rather than amassed by individual researchers; 3) Pharmaceutical and Biotech companies have been funding biobank collections for their own research needs, resulting in new capital for these academic medical center biobanking programs.

In short, biobanks are becoming more and more sophisticated to support increased requirements on efficiency, volume, and quality - through new systems, new tools, bar-coding, robotics, etc.

The Proviasettes are becoming the standard for frozen bio-specimen storage containers and are already in use at over 30 biobanks in the United States alone, including global pharmaceutical companies, comprehensive cancer centers, children's hospitals, biotechnology firms, and national research institutions.

It is critical to ensure that high value bio-specimens, including oncological, neoplastic and non-neoplastic, are properly handled, stored and tracked. "At Provia, we believe the use of properly collected, processed, and preserved bio-specimens is a critical component to the discovery and delivery of new therapies," said Howard Greenman, CEO, Provia Laboratories. He adds, "Grace Century's tremendous network has helped us identify valuable partners to work with."

"We are facilitating negotiations with numerous parties wanting exclusive marketing rights for entire regions, including Australia, Middle East, and Russia with its associated countries," said Scott A. Wolf, Director of Research, Grace Century. Mr. Wolf adds, "In biobanking, you just can't compromise on quality or control."