The annual meeting of the American Association for Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) was held November 8–12 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The AAPS’s early estimates put attendance at roughly 8,500, flat with last year’s meeting in Atlanta, Georgia.

IBO attended the meeting on Wednesday, November 11, and found an exhibition hall with few visitors. But vendors told IBO that Monday and Tuesday had been better days for booth traffic. Several major instrument firms had booths at the show, including Applied Biosystems/Sciex, Bruker, Horiba, Thermo Fisher Scientific and Varian, which each had sizable presences. Companies showcasing MS systems, materials characterization techniques, dissolution testing equipment, and X-ray diffraction systems were well represented. Life science companies and software companies were less plentiful. However, many life science companies did attend, including Beckman Coulter, Luminex and OriGene. Software companies with booths included IDBS and Symyx Technologies.

There was a diverse set of new instruments and related products at the show. MS company Ionics Mass Spectrometry Group promoted its 3Q Molecular Analyzer, which was first unveiled at ASMS (see IBO 6/15/09). The compact, vertical system sits on the floor and emphasizes easy access and maintenance. The system will begin shipping next year. The company plans to open a demonstration site in Manchester, UK in January 2009 and at its US sites in 2010.

Phytronix showed its Laser Diode Thermal Desorption (LDTD) ionization source and the new LazWell 384-well plates, which supplements the company’s 96-well plate offering, for sample volumes of 0.5–2.5 µL. Up to 10 plates can be loaded at one time with a run time of approximately 10 minutes per plate.

At the show, Thermo Fisher Scientific launched the Thermo Scientific Evolution 60S UV-Visible spectrophotometer, a refreshed version of the Evolution 60, which was launched in 2007. The system, which is designed for regulatory environments, features upgraded electronics and a faster scan speed of 4,200 nm per minute. The local-control version is priced at $5,000. The product will begin shipping later this month.

PION previewed an intriguing device that is essentially a miniaturized dissolution testing system in a 96-well plate. Designed for R&D, each well contains stainless steel mixing balls for continuous sample mixing. Readings are taken of each well, enabling multiple end-point data. An entire plate can be read in two minutes. The system is scheduled to be released next year. PION also showed its eight-position Mini-Bath system for use with the µDISS Profiler fiber-optic UV system. The dissolution testing system enables testing of volumes of 1–25 mL with eight channels. The company also offers a six-position system.

Also at the show was ICX Technologies’ ICx Nomadics Bioinstrumentation Group, which showed its fully automated SensíQ Pioneer surface plasmon resonance system. Introduced earlier this year, SensíQ Pioneer features three channels and is priced at $150,000. Twelve functional slide surfaces are available.