Company Announcements

In August, Quanterix and STRATEC Biomedical agreed to codevelop and manufacture an automated instrument for Quanterix’s Single Molecular Array technology for use in the life science and in vitro diagnostic (IVD) markets. The life science system is expected to launch in 2013, and the IVD system is expected to launch in 2014. STRATEC will receive a 7% stake in the share capital of Quanterix upon achievement of technology milestones.

Gyros announced in August that GE Healthcare Life Sciences will become its sole distributor for China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

In August, Helicos BioSciences expanded its license with Arizona Technology Enterprises, giving it full and unencumbered rights to licenses that cover sequencing-by-synthesis methods, including detection methods that do not rely on optically labeled nucleotides.

Avantra Biosciences changed its name to Courtagen Life Sciences in August but will continue to use the Avantra name for its proteomics portfolio.

In August, LaserGen closed a $5.0 million Series A financing, led by Aspen MedTech Ventures.

In September, the SEC entered a cease-and-desist order against Sequenom related to its statements made between June 2008 and September 2009 regarding its trisomy 21 test (see IBO 6/15/10).

Product Introductions

In August, NanoString Technologies introduced the nCounter Rat miRNA Expression Assay Kit for its nCounter Analysis System. The Kit has the capacity to perform multiplexed profiling of more than 400 rat miRNAs in a single tube.

In August, SAW Instruments launched in Europe its new surface acoustic wave–based high-end samX biosensor, featuring eight channels and the ability to address the channels individually or in combination.

ProteinSimple released in August the SimpleWestern size-based assays, which are equivalent to SDS-PAGE. The assays are analyzed using Simon, a fully automated capillary electrophoresis system with chemiluminescent detection, which can run 12 samples simultaneously.

Roche introduced the Cedex Bio Bioprocess Analyzer, a continuous random-access analysis for metabolite profiling and substrate analysis in biotherapeutics manufacturing. Capabilities include photometric testing and electrolyte testing, with measurement of up to 14 parameters simultaneously per sample.

In September, Bio-Rad Laboratories launched the ChemiDoc MP Imaging System for chemiluminescent, multiplex fluorescent and routine gel imaging. It features a stain-free detection option for quantifying total protein for normalization purposes after transfer to the membrane, eliminating the use of housekeeping proteins.

GE Healthcare released in September the horizontal Amersham ECL Gel System for protein electrophoresis.