Company Announcements

In June, Boval Company, a manufacturer of cell culture and diagnostic biological raw materials, acquired Chata Biosystems, a supplier of custom solutions that specialized in HPLC media. Coloradoan.com reported that Boval acquired the name and instruments business, and that the remainder of the firm was renamed CHD Bioscience.

In October, Novasep entered into a memorandum of understanding with the holders of a majority of its Notes and the French Strategic Investment Fund (FSI) about restructuring its balance sheet. The memo contemplates a reduction in Novasep’s indebtedness and cash interest expenses in exchange for note holders becoming majority shareholders in the company. It also confirmed the FSI’s interest in injecting new money into the company.

Product Introductions

Büchi Labortechnik introduced the disposable Sepacore Flash Cartridges with silica, C18, Amine, Cyano, Diol and SCX-2 cation exchange packing material. Sizes range from 4 g to 330 g.

GE Healthcare launched Capto Phenyl and Capto Butyl media to its hydrophobic interaction chromatography (HIC) portfolio for screening and purification. The range of prefilled PreDictor 96-well plates was extended to include eight HIC media for process development.

GE Healthcare released the Capto Blue affinity chromatography medium, which is more chemically stable and has a more rigid agarose base matrix than its predecessor. It is available as a prepacked HiScreen column.

Bio-Rad Laboratories launched the Nuvia Q ultra-high capacity anion exchange media for downstream processing. It features a dynamic binding capacity of greater than 170 mg/mL at a flow rate of 300 cm/hr.

In September, Phenomenex introduced the Kinetex core-shell Phenyl-Hexyl phase HPLC/UHPLC column family, which is especially effective for resolving aromatic hydrocarbons and is offered in 2.6 µm and 1.7 µm particle sizes. This brings the number of Kinetex phases to six.

Phenomenex released in November the Aeris core-shell HPLC/UHPLC columns, which are specially designed for the analysis of proteins and peptides. They are offered in wide- and small-pore configurations.

Agilent launched the ZORBAX Rapid Resolution High Definition (RRHD) 300SB-C8 1.8 µm LC columns, calling them the first sub-2 µm UHPLC column for reversed-phase protein characterization. It is Agilent’s second in a series of wide-pore RRHD columns for protein applications.

In October, Novasep launched Absolute High Cap protein A media, based on modified silica, which is designed to capture both monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies from high-titer and large-volume feedstock.

In November, Biotage introduced the value-priced, upgradable Isolera Prime flash purification system, which performs at flow rates up to 100 mL/min with a pressure range of up to 145 psi.