Company Announcements

Hach announced in August the opening of a 90,000 ft² (27,432 m²) expansion of its Loveland, Colorado, campus. The new building houses an advanced R&D work space for development teams, and includes multiple testing and research labs. The Loveland facility currently has 750 full-time employees, with 50 additional off-site employees who will move onto the campus upon completion of the new facility. With the new building, the campus now has more than 300,000 ft² (91,440 m²) of production, office, meeting space and labs.

Scientist.com, a marketplace for outsourced scientific services, launched in August the Innovation Hub, an online repository of life science research tools and services. The collection is available exclusively to registered users of Scientist.com’s marketplace. The platform uses a music-app style recommendation system.

In September, Markes International announced it will be establishing a new Technology Support Center in Shanghai, China, along with an online portal.

The East Midlands Business Link reported in September that lab product distributor I&L Biosystems plans to open an office in Leicester, UK. The company has more than 55 employees.

In September, PerkinElmer announced that Andy Wilson, senior vice president and CFO, will retire in August 2018.

Xylem appointed Colin Sabol as senior vice president and president of Sensus & Analytics, effective October 1. He most recently served as senior vice president and president of Xylem’s Analytics and Treatment businesses. He replaces Randy Bays, who will move to an advisory role with a focus on Xylem’s global manufacturing operations.

In September, Agilent Technologies became a platinum sponsor of LabCentral, an independent, shared lab space based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Agilent will provide technology for the space as well as fund a startup biotech company via a contest.

China Daily reported in September that Thermo Fisher Scientific has opened a 1,969 ft² (600 m²) customer center in Guangzhou, China, for precision medicine. The company’s Chinese presence consists of 21 offices, 6 factories, 5 labs and a center for innovation.

In September, Anton Paar announced the donation of 10 instruments worth €600,000 ($659,341) to the Soft Matter Application Lab at Austria’s Technical University of Graz.

Hitachi High-Technologies announced in September an investment in MagArray, a US-based cancer diagnostic testing service.

In September, Canadian firm Valens GroWorks, a medical cannabis company, announced a collaboration with Thermo Fisher Scientific (Mississauga) to develop a Centre of Excellence in Plant Based Medicine Analytics in Kelowna, Canada.

Metrohm USA opened a West Coast field office in Fountain Valley, California. It will house eight employees.

In September, Waters CEO Chris O’Connell inaugurated an 11,483 ft² (3,500 m²) Romanian Software Development Center in Brasov. The Center employs over 160 employees.

Diploma announced in September the retirement of Bruce Thompson as CEO before the end of September 2018.

In September, at its 2017 Capital Markets Day, Merck KGaA provided an update on its Life Science business. It announced that around 80% of its legacy Life Sciences business portfolio has been added to Sigma-Aldrich’s e-commerce platform in North America and Europe. The company also announced that 11 Life Science production sites and 6 logistic sites have been consolidated

Following its acquisition of medical device firm C.R. Bard, Becton, Dickinson named two former C.R. Bard members to newly created seats on its Board, C.R. Bard CEO Timothy M. Ring and David F. Melcher, president and CEO of the Aerospace Industries Association.

VWR announced in an October SEC filing that it does not expect its merger with Avantor (see IBO 5/15/17) to close until the mid- to late fourth quarter, as the European Commission is still reviewing it.

In October, Merck KGaA announced the opening of its new Life Science Center in Burlington, Massachusetts. With nearly one thousand employees, the 280,000 ft² (85,344 m²) facility houses a customer service and call center, and an M Lab Collaboration Center. By year end, the company will open the region’s first BioReliance End-to-End Biodevelopment Center for small-scale drug manufacturers who will use the lab for their early-phase clinical trials.

Shimadzu Scientific Instruments announced in October a collaboration with biopharmaceutical firm VpH to establish the Medical Botanical Center of Excellence, the first fully comprehensive pharmaceutical grade Medical Botanical Testing Platform in Texas. The Center will be positioned to support the State of Texas Compassionate Use Act and Compassionate Use Registry of Texas.

Product Introductions

In September, CTC Analytics introduced the PAL DHR Dual Head sample automation system, featuring two parallel heads that can move independently.