Company Announcements

Cepheid 2012 Non-Clinical sales grew 19.3% to $35.2 million, or 11% of total revenues, primarily due to greater shipments of anthrax test cartridges to Northrop Grumman/US Postal Service (USPS). The company agreed to sell the test cartridges and associated materials used in the Biohazard Detection System directly to USPS through the period ending September 30, 2016.

In February, WaferGen Bio-systems signed a comarketing agreement with QIAGEN for Japan.

Quidel and Life Technologies announced in March the receipt of FDA 510(k) clearances to market the Quidel Molecular Direct C. difficile Assay with Life’s QuantStudio Dx and 7500 Fast Dx Applied Biosystems Real-Time PCR Instruments.

In April, Life Technologies signed an agreement to exclusively distribute LGC Forensics’ ParaDNA portable rapid DNA system, an easy-to-use, high-speed DNA testing system for on-site rapid identification of whether samples contain a useable DNA profile.

In April, bioMérieux licensed Seegene’s DPO and TOCE technologies for the development of multiplexed tests for food safety testing.

In April, Trovagene entered into an R&D agreement with PerkinElmer for joint validation of an assay to determine the risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma.

Product Introductions

Esco launched the Aeris thermal cycler, its third-generation of thermal cyclers.

SciGene released in February the Hyb-Ice Thermal Profiling System for performing everyday temperature profiles.

Eppendorf introduced the Mastercycler nexus X1 PCR instrument, featuring a heating rate of 5° C/second and low power consumption.

Thermo Fisher Scientific launched the Thermo Scientific SureTect PCR System for food safety testing of key pathogens. It consists of a real-time PCR system, software, prefilled reagent components and a single PCR protocol for a range of common targets and sample types.

In March, Life Technologies released in Europe, the Middle East and Africa the RapidFinder Equine ID Kit that detects the presence of equine DNA extracted from meat samples. Life also offers a full solution.

EnviroLogix introduced in March the DNAble Salmonella Rapid Screening Kit for live-poultry production.

QIAGEN released in March a real-time PCR test for finding horse meat in food in less than four hours.

In April, Promega launched the GenePrint 10 System for human cell line authentication and sample identification using short tandem repeat analysis.

Analytical Jena introduced in April the Flex Cycler2 thermal cycler, featuring the Quick-X-Change block exchange system, and six mono and twin block modules.