Two acquisitions were announced in late June involving providers of laboratory software (see page 2). IDBS agreed to purchase InforSense, creating a portfolio of products for storing, managing and analyzing R&D lab data. LabVantage Solutions purchased Applied Biosystems’ LIMS business, uniting two long-established LIMS companies. The acquisitions indicate further consolidation among laboratory software providers. The […]
June began with renewed economic optimism as data for May came in slightly better than expected. The markets were even reassured following the bankruptcy filing of GM on June 1. Although some market euphoria can be attributed to positive financial media spin, many observers believe the macroeconomic environment is improving and that the US will […]
Employment at instrument and lab product firms can be expected to decline this year. Numerous companies announced layoffs and hiring freezes in the fourth quarter of 2008 (see IBO 2/28/09) in response to a sharp and sudden downturn in sales, including Varian (see IBO 1/31/09) and Mettler-Toledo (see IBO 3/15/09). In 2009, so far, the […]
Productivity growth for 22 major publicly held laboratory instrument and product companies (see table, page 3) more than doubled in fiscal 2008. Productivity for the companies, as measured by average sales in US dollars per employee, increased 10.1%, up from a 5.4% growth in fiscal 2007, according to IBO’s analysis. Excluding the eight companies for […]
GE Healthcare and Geron announced this week that they are partnering to offer human embryonic stem cell (hESC)-derived assays for drug development and screening toxicity (see page 2). HESC-derived cell-based assays promise to supplement in vivo animal and in vitro cell testing for drug development. Applications could include target identification and validation, screening of compound […]
First-quarter 2009 Life Science Index sales declined 3.1% to $2,157 million, while operating profit slipped 0.8% to $356 million. However, operating margin gained 50 basis points to 16.6% of sales due to restructuring and cost saving initiatives. Of the 16 Index companies, Genetix and Tecan are the only two companies for which first-quarter estimates have […]
Final attendance numbers released by Pittcon on April 7 show that the conferee attendance at the conference and exhibit increased 6.0% this year to 10,823, close to the number initially reported by IBO in our March 15 issue. However, compared to IBO’s initial report, total registration fell only 2.7% to 19,018. Exhibitor attendance fell 13.8% […]
IBO has selected Thermo Scientific’s LTQ Velos ion trap LC/MS as the best new product at this year’s ASMS meeting. While the exterior design of the new instrument is essentially identical to other LTQ models, Thermo has made some considerable advances in the mass analyzer and other internal components. At the core of the LTQ […]
Microfluidics is not only useful in applications ranging from process chemistry to cell sorting, but is also a way to enter an established instrument market. Formulatrix began as a provider of the Rock Maker protein crystallography imaging system. The company has had 60% average growth in revenue since its start in 2002. It entered the […]
Over the past few months, the Department of Energy (DOE), National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and National Science Foundation (NSF) have announced new details about their programs funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) (see IBO 2/28/09). This article covers programs from these three agencies that are expected to benefit the […]
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IBO (Instrument Business Outlook) is a twice-monthly newsletter aimed at providing decision-makers with the latest and most complete information available on the life science and analytical instrument industry, and lab product markets. IBO delivers the latest curated industry news, information and trends, as well as SDi data and analysis to deliver the maximum in industry insight with a minimum time investment for executives and investors.
