Company Announcements

First-half sales for Lonza’s Bioscience declined 2.8% to CHF 103 million ($114 million), but grew 13.2% in local currency, to make up 9% of company revenues. Within the unit, Research Solutions sales declined, with European sales up, US sales down slightly and growth in Asia Pacific.

Under a reagent supply agreement announced in August, Promega will provide its short tandem repeat amplification chemistry for IntegenX’s RapidHIT 200 Human Identification System. The chemistry will be packaged with the System’s single-use disposable cartridge.

In August, publicly held SeraCare Life Sciences announced that it is exploring strategic alternatives, including the possible sale of the company. In June, the company received an unsolicited takeover proposal from MSMB Capital, a current share owner, for $4.25 per share (a 22% premium over the June 22 stock price) for a total price of $82 million. In July, the company retained Lazard as an advisor and named CFO Greg Gould as interim CEO.

In August, Enzo Life Sciences named four executives to fill newly created positions. Bruce Taillon, PhD, previously with Roche 454 Life Sciences, was named head of Global Technology Business Development; John D’Errico, PhD, the former manager of VWR Scientific’s life sciences product portfolio, is to lead commercial merchandising operations; Kara Cannon, previously with Pall, was named head of Global Marketing; and Paul Munger, PhD, who previously led US-based manufacturing of regulated diagnostic kits for Idexx Labs, is to lead Global Manufacturing.

Meridian Bioscience announced in August revised guidance for its fiscal year ending September 30, 2012, of $183–$192 million. Organic revenue growth for Meridian Life Science is expected to be 5%–6%, with Bioline sales up in double digits and a slight decline in the core Life Science unit due to slowing immunoassay demand.

Product Introductions

Agilent introduced the non-cellulose Bond Elut Dried Matrix–Spotting sample preparation card.

Life Technologies launched the MagMAX FFPE Isolation Kits, consisting of two new magnetic bead–based kits designed for the isolation of both total RNA and DNA from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded samples.

In August, Thermo Fisher Scientific launched new Thermo Scientific PEGylation Reagents for use in the development of gold and silver nanoparticles, self-assembled monolayers, quantum dots and magnetic particles.

GE Healthcare released the new Whatman Indicating FTA DMPK Cards for collection of colorless biosample fluids for pharmacokinetic and toxicokinetic studies.

In September, Puracyp and Promega launched kits to assess nuclear receptor activation, P450 metabolism and cellular toxicity. The kits consist of Puracyp’s nuclear receptor–expressing cell lines and Promega’s assay and detection technologies.