ST. LOUIS, July 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- SAFC Supply Solutions, a business segment of SAFC(R) (www.safcglobal.com), a member of the Sigma-Aldrich(R) Group (Nasdaq: SIAL), today announced the launch of a diverse product offer (www.safcsupplysolutions.com/molecular) designed to meet the demands of the burgeoning molecular diagnostics market and provide single-point access to a broad range of regulatory compliant and custom manufactured raw materials.

The new molecular diagnostics offer combines four product groups including molecular grade raw materials tested on key contaminants, Proligo(R) Reagents raw materials, specialty molecular products for PCR and other novel applications and custom synthesized oligonucleotides. All raw materials are focused on meeting the broadest requirements of both traditional IVD manufacturers working in molecular diagnostics and dedicated molecular diagnostics companies.

Combining its technical and industrial expertise, SAFC provides security of supply with over 100,000 raw materials, of which 46,000 are produced in-house, and flexibility through customized manufacturing, packaging and analytical services. The Proligo(R) Reagents are produced in SAFC's ISO certified Hamburg, Germany facility with other product groups provided from other global production sites.

The initiative will be led by Diagnostics Segment Manager George Crowell, who commented: "SAFC Supply Solutions provides a strong molecular diagnostics offer for this industry. By including the Company's oligonucleotide custom synthesis capabilities and specialty molecular products, we believe that the breadth of this offer is now unrivalled in our industry. Additionally, we can help mitigate risk in our customers' supply chain as all our products are produced in ISO 9001 certified facilities."

Primary growth areas in the market include blood bank testing, infectious disease testing, cancer identification, susceptibility and therapy monitoring, pharmacogenics and gene/chromosome testing.

About SAFC: SAFC(R) is the custom manufacturing and services business unit within Sigma-Aldrich that focuses on high-purity inorganics for high technology applications, cell culture products and services for biopharmaceutical manufacturing, biochemical production and the manufacturing of complex, multi-step organic synthesis of APIs and key intermediates. SAFC has manufacturing facilities around the world dedicated to providing manufacturing services for companies requiring a reliable partner to produce their custom manufactured materials. SAFC has four business segments - SAFC Pharma(R), SAFC Supply Solutions(R), SAFC Biosciences(R), and SAFC Hitech(R) - and had annual sales of over $620 million in 2008. SAFC is a top 10 fine chemical company. For more information about SAFC, visit www.safcglobal.com.

About SAFC Supply Solutions: SAFC Supply Solutions offers a complete line of customized products and services to alleviate issues associated with compliance, timely delivery, product reliability, packaging customization, and quality assurance for regulated industries, including pharmaceutical development, diagnostics manufacturing and flavors and fragrances. Our customized sourcing services, with access to more than 100,000 starting materials, combined with expertise in analytical testing, manufacturing, packaging, quality control, and compliance services can speed the development process and lower costs for customers, enabling faster time to market. For further information, visit www.safcsupplysolutions.com.

About Sigma-Aldrich: Sigma-Aldrich is a leading Life Science and High Technology company. Its biochemical and organic chemical products and kits are used in scientific research, including genomic and proteomic research, biotechnology, pharmaceutical development and as key components in pharmaceutical, diagnostic and other high technology manufacturing. The Company has customers in life science companies, university and government institutions, hospitals, and in industry. Over one million scientists and technologists use its products. Sigma-Aldrich operates in 38 countries and has 7,800 employees providing excellent service worldwide. Sigma-Aldrich is committed to Accelerating Customer Success through Innovation and Leadership in Life Science, High Technology and Service. For more information about Sigma-Aldrich, please visit its award-winning Web site at http://www.sigma-aldrich.com.

Cautionary Statement: This release contains forward-looking statements relating to future performance, goals, strategic actions and initiatives and similar intentions and beliefs and other statements regarding the Company's expectations, goals, beliefs, intentions and the like, which involve assumptions regarding the Company's operations and conditions in the markets the Company serves. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

SAFC(R), SAFC Biosciences(R), SAFC Supply Solutions(R), SAFC Pharma(R), SAFC Hitech(R) and Sigma-Aldrich(R) are registered trademarks of Sigma-Aldrich Biotechnology L.P. and Sigma-Aldrich Co.

SOURCE Sigma-Aldrich