Company Announcements

First-quarter revenue for Gerresheimer GmbH’s Life Science Division rose 2.8% to €22.4 million ($29.5 million) (see IBO 4/15/09). In constant currency, sales declined 9.7%. The company reported that orders slowed due to a reduction in customers’ inventory levels.

Donau Lab AG will distribute Sartorius AG laboratory products in Eastern Europe, Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States.

In April, LGC Standards opened its first office in Beijing, China.

VWR expanded its local Service Center in Sugar Land, Texas, to a Regional Distribution Center. It is one of the company’s six US-based distribution centers.

VWR reported that in May the German Federal Cartel Office notified the company that its European distribution agreement with Merck KGaA violates German anticompetitive laws. VWR stated that it will formally respond to the notice in the second half of the year.

In May, John L. Higgins, president and CEO of Ligand Pharmaceuticals, joined Techne’s Board. Board member G. Arthur Herbert will retire in October.

Lab glassware manufacturer DURAN and Miele Professional, a supplier of labware washers, announced a comarketing agreement in May.

Laboratory plasticsware firm VITLAB appointed Peter Schütte as its new managing director in May.

Porvair Sciences appointed Universal Analytical and Testing Instruments as its distributor for China, Hong Kong and Macau. The company also invested in a new warehouse in Wuhan, China.

Patrick L. McCrory, partner with consulting firm McCrory & Company, was elected to Kewaunee Scientific’s Board in May.

Sales/Orders of Note

The Massachusetts Biotechnology Council announced in April that it named Fisher Scientific as a Primary Supplier. The Boston Herald reported that the five-year contract is worth $250 million and that the Council had previously used VWR for bulk purchases of lab supplies.

In June, Vanderbilt University announced that it awarded Fisher Scientific a five-year contract as its primary approved supplier.

In April, INTEGRA Biosciences AG announced the installation of 50 VACUSAFE comfort units at the Center for Biomedicine & Medical Technology Mannheim for the aspiration of cell culture supernatants

In May, Techcomp won a $3 million tender from the UN Office for Project Services to provide two BSL-3 turnkey laboratories for animal research centers and multiple refrigerated centrifuges to blood banks in India.

Esco announced that the French buying organization F. Lab selected Esco and its distributor, AES Chemunex, to supply over 40 microbiological safety cabinets.