The latest UK spending review includes increased funding for science, providing an additional £500 million ($769 million) per year by 2020 for the £4.7 billion science budget in order to account for inflation. In addition, the science infrastructure budget will increase 10% to £1.2 billion per year by 2021 and includes £150 million for a […]

This month, the FDA finalized three new rules that are part of the Food Safety Modernization Act. The Produce Safety rule includes requirements for agricultural water testing, use of biological soil amendments, and prevention of sprout contamination. The Foreign Supplier Verification Program rule requires importers to verify that their suppliers meet US safety standards. Exempted […]

New public and private funding commitments were announced for clean energy R&D at this month’s UN climate summit. As part of the new Mission Innovation initiative, 20 countries, including China, Saudi Arabia and the US, plan to double their current combined $10 billion in spending on clean energy R&D within five years. The US accounts […]

Rockville, MD 10/28/15—OriGene Technologies has acquired Germany-based Acris Antibodies, a supplier of antibodies for research, diagnostics and biopharmaceutical customers, for an undisclosed amount. Acris has 16 employees. OriGene stated that the acquisition will help it meet increasing demand from European distributors and customers.

London, UK 10/28/15—Digital imaging instrument firm Scientific Digital Imaging has acquired Sentek for £2 million ($3 million = £0.65 = $1) in cash. Sentek manufactures and produces electrochemical sensors, including pH and conductivity sensors, for water-based applications. For the year ending October 31, 2015, Sentek recorded revenues of £2.6 million ($4.0 million) and a profit […]

Darmstadt, Germany 11/18/15—On November 18, Merck KGaA finalized its $17 billion acquisition of Sigma-Aldrich (see IBO 9/30/14). Except for SAFC Hitech, which was integrated into Merck’s Performance Materials business, Sigma-Aldrich joined Merck’s Life Science business, which is expected to have combined 2015 pro forma revenues of €4.6 billion ($5.1 billion = €0.90 = $1) to […]

San Diego, CA 11/30/15—Genomics database firm Human Longevity, Inc. (HLI) has purchased Cypher Genomics for an undisclosed amount. Cypher Genomics, which has 14 employees, develops genomic interpretation software, including the Mantis platform for interpretation of genomic sequencing data to uncover clinically significant variants and the Coral biomarker discovery service. “Cypher Genomics has created important automated […]

Pfaffikon, Switzerland 11/20/15; Stockholm, Sweden 11/20/15—Technology firm Oerlikon has agreed to sell its Leybold Vacuum business to industrial tools provider Atlas Copco for CHF 525 million ($515 million = CHF 1.02 = $1) in cash. The business generated annual revenues of CHF 390 million ($415 million = CHF 0.94 = $1) as of June 30 […]