General Life Science Consumables

In June, SYGNIS announced that Co-CEO Dr. Heikki Lanckriet will become sole CEO and will retain the role of CSO. Former Co-CEO Pilar de la Huerta will be nominated to join the Supervisory Board but has resigned from the management board.

Streck announced several new distribution agreements: VIAGENE for Slovakia and the Czech Republic; Genomax Technologies for Singapore and Malaysia; Golden Bat (Far East) for the Philippines; Biozatix for Indonesia; Ngaio Diagnostics for New Zealand; Nordic BioSite for Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway, and Danyel Biotech for Israel.

Consumables for Gene-based Analysis

Company Announcements

In May, ATUM announced a patent licensed agreement giving Thermo Fisher Scientific access to its novel gene design platform. Gene Designer 2.0 software for gene design provides a graphic representation of a gene sequence.

In May, Canon Biomedical named Cedarlane as a Canadian distributor of its Novallele genotyping products.

In June, Transgenomic shareholders approved its merger with Precipio Diagnostics (see IBO 10/15/16). The stock will be relisted on the NASDAQ under the new symbol PRPO.

In June, synthetic DNA provider Twist Bioscience announced an additional $27 million in venture financing, completing a $60 million financing round. To date, the company has raised $191 million.

Twist Bioscience partnered in June with Synbio Technologies to provide customers with long-length genes up to 70 kb. Twist will manufacture synthetic DNA up to 3.2 kb for Synbio, which will then create genes up to 70 kb.

In July, Twist Bioscience partnered with service firm Quintara Biosciences to launch the qBlock Gene Fragments and qGene DNA cloning services. The services will be available for 9¢ per bp for any gene fragment between 300 and 1800 bp.

In June, the Australian Patent Office awarded MilliporeSigma its first CRISPR patent. The patent rights related to the use of CRISPR in a genomic integration method for eukaryotic cells. The company has also filed for the patent in other countries.

Canopy Biosciences announced in June a distribution agreement for Japan with Cosmo Bio for its TUNR Flexible Gene Editing technology.

Product Introductions

In June, Empirical Bioscience introduced the PFU-50 ultra-high-fidelity polymerase for PCR. It delivers a fidelity that is 50 times greater than Taq polymerases, according to the company.

Integrated DNA Technologies released in June the rhAmp SNP Genotyping System for fast, cost effective, accurate and confident SNP calls. Assays are shipping in less than seven business days. The single tube assay is easily automated.

In June, Bio-Rad Laboratories released ddPCR Genome Edit Detection Assays for characterizing edits generated by CRISPR-Cas9 or other genome editing tools. Assays are available through the company’s Digital Assay Site.

Thermo Fisher Scientific launched in July the Sterilin universal RNase-, DNase- and human DNA–free containers for molecular biology, genomics and forensic research. They can accommodate a working sample volume of up to 25 mL.

Orders/Sales of Note

In June, Twist Bioscience announced an agreement to provide 10,000 genes to the BioBricks Foundation (BBF) base on an online forum of suggestions. The genes will be made freely available by the BBF via an Open Material Transfer Agreement.

Consumables for Cell-based Analysis

Company Announcements

Horizon Discovery’s 2016 revenues grew 19.4% to £24.1 million ($32.5 million) (see IBO 6/15/17). Operating loss increased from £10.3 million ($13.9 million) to £12.4 million ($16.8 million). EBITDA declined from £4.6 million ($6.2 million) to £3.8 million ($5.1 million). Gross margins increased from 49% to 54%. Product sales (cell lines, in vivo models, bioproduction cell lines, reference standards) rose 44.6% to £11.3 million ($15.3 million). Product highlights included the introduction of seven optigenetics models and new capabilities for the gene editing of stem cells. Services revenue (cell and in vivo custom model generation, assay services, high-throughput genetic screening, high-throughput molecular screening) increased 4.9% to £12.7 million ($17.2 millions). Website traffic was up over 40%. Sales to the America, EMEA and Asia Pacific rose 0.3%, 60.4% and 59.7% to make up 62%, 30% and 9% of revenues, respectively. Revenue is expected to reach £30–£35 million ($41–$47 million) this year.

Horizon Discovery announced in June it is working with three clients using its gene and cell therapy platform for contract service and therapeutic applications. The work is expected to result in $2 million in revenues. The company is also exploring developing a universal cell therapy platform.

LAMPIRE Biological Laboratories, a provider of blood products cell culture bags, and antibody development and manufacturing, announced in May the acquisition of H. B. Custom Media, a supplier of custom tissue culture media, reagents, supplements and animal embryo culture media. All H. B. products will be rebranded with the LAMPIRE name.

In June, ProBioGen signed a license and cooperation agreement to integrate its Human Artificial Lymph Node Module into TissUse’s Multi-Organ-Chip technology.

Irvine Scientific announced in June the addition of a 40,000 ft² (3,716 m²) R&D center to its facility in Irvine, California.

In June, MilliporeSigma expanded its distribution alliance with Public Health England to include the European Bank for iPSCs, an IPS cell bank of more than three thousand human iPSC cell lines. The agreement includes all geographies except Japan.

Product Introductions

Cayman Chemical and BMG LABTECH announced in May the Mito Stress Test (Atmospheric Control Unit Format), an assay kit to measure mitochondrial function under a dynamic range of oxygen concentrations. It measures oxygen consumption range and extracellular acidification simultaneously.

Molecular Devices released in May the SpectraMax DuoLuc Reporter Assay Kit for sensitive quantitation of both firefly and Renilla luciferases in mammalian cells.

In May, Irvine Scientific released the PRIME-XV Hematopoietic Cell Basal Medium, a serum-free, xeno-basal medium that specifically supports robust expansion of hematopoietic progenitors while maintaining their multipotency.

Provia Laboratories introduced in May a comprehensive library of stem cell material for researchers for mesenchymal stem cell research.

In June, Miltenyi Biotec launched the “MACSPlex Exosome Kit, human,” enabling the qualitative and semi-quantitative analysis of 37 exosome surface markers in a single experiment using flow cytometry.

Sales/Orders of Note

In June, Horizon Discovery announced that Abcam extended its license and supply agreement through 2018. Horizon provides exclusive access to its human diploid and haploid cell line models for functional validation of Abcam antibodies.

Consumables for Protein-based Analysis

Product Introductions

In May, CDI Laboratories announced that over one thousand new recombinant proteins will be added to its HuProt human proteome microarray.

Genovis launched in May three unique enzymes for O-glycan analysis: OpeRATOR, OglyZOR and SialEXO.

In June, Aalto Bio Reagents released native and recombinant West Nile virus proteins for diagnostic test developers, vaccine developers and researchers.

In June, GenScript launched its MonoRab custom rabbit–monoclonal antibody service.

Sales/Orders of Note

In June, BioAuxilium Research announced the development of its 100^th custom TR-FRET immunoassay kit. TR-FRET does not require plate coating, washing or separation steps.