Company Announcements Accelerated Technology Laboratories partnered with Linko Data Systems, a provider of compliance-tracking software, to integrate their respective Sample Master Pro LIMS and pretreatment software for wastewater clients. Waters and LabKey Software, a provider of open source software, joined the BioIT Alliance in September. In September, Thermo Fisher Scientific began shipping its Proteome Discoverer […]

Research published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) this month indicates that regulatory actions related to safety concerns have been issued for 23.6% of the biological medicinal products approved for sale in the US and EU between January 1995 and June 2008. Of the 174 biologicals approved for sale in the regions […]

Carlsbad, CA 10/21/08—Invitrogen has announced the acquisition of VisiGen Biotechnologies, a developer of single-molecule sequencing technology, for $21 million in cash. VisiGen’s technology utilizes fluorescence resonance energy transfer technology and massively parallel arrays. Invitrogen Chairman and CEO Gregory Lucier commented that Invitrogen acquired VisiGen for its intellectual property and for the company’s strength in enzymology […]

Company Announcements Syrris established a subsidiary office in Japan earlier this year. In September, Prosonix, a provider of ultrasonic process chemistry solutions, announced a marketing partnership with Syrris for Prosonix’s Sonolab lab-scale equipment, which employs a transducer-based design. ThalesNano announced in September the closing of an investment of $3.3 million. In October, Micronit Microfluidics, FutureChemistry […]

Company Announcements Bruker’s Advanced Supercon subsidiary hired Thomas M. Rosa, previously CFO at American Superconductor Corporation, as CFO in April. He will also lead newly established business development and customer support operations in the US. Cambridge Isotope Laboratories formed Membrane Receptor Technologies, a collaborative venture with NMR specialist Dr. Stanley Opella, which will provide atomic […]

The United Nations recommends that China institute new food safety laws in order to restore confidence in its food supply. Specifically, the UN calls for revising the country’s basic hygiene law to include the entire food chain. The UN paper also advocates the establishment of one government agency to replace the six agencies that current […]

IMS forecasts worldwide pharmaceutical sales to increase 4.5%–5.5%, in 2009, the same as 2008’s growth, to more than $820 billion. Oncology products will drive growth, with sales expected to increase 15%–16%. Also driving sales growth will be HIV therapies, which are forecasted to grow 13%–14%, and biologics, which are expected to grow 11%–12%. Sales of […]

Capital spending by the semiconductor industry will not recover until 2010, according to the latest forecast from Gartner. This year, capital expenditures are expected to decline 25.7% to $47.1 billion, the biggest drop since 2002. Gartner attributes the decline to economic conditions and overcapacity in the memory business. The capital intensity of the semiconductor industry […]

Carlsbad, CA 10/28/08; Norwalk, CT 10/28/08—On October 28, Invitrogen and Applied Biosystems’ shareholders voted in separate meetings to approve the companies’ merger agreement (see IBO 6/15/08). More than 98% of the each company’s shares voted were cast in favor of the transaction, according to the companies. The transaction is expected to close once the companies […]