Sunnyvale, CA 2/15/07—Cepheid, a provider of nucleic acid amplification equipment and reagents, has acquired Sangtec Molecular Diagnostics AB from ALTANA Pharma AG for $27 million in cash. Based in Broma, Sweden, Sangtec is a manufactuer of PCR-based molecular diagnostics products and had 2006 revenues of $8 million. Cepheid intends to integrate Sangtec’s affigene kits for […]

The FDA plans to define the term “gluten-free” for the purposes of food labeling. The FDA has produced a draft proposal in January and is accepting comments on the proposal until April. According to the FDA, a gluten-free food does not contain wheat, rye or barley; it also should not contain any ingredient made from […]

Company Announcements CETAC Technology entered into a marketing and partnership agreement with Coherent for its GeoLasPro Laser Ablation System in fall 2006. CETAC Technology named StarLab SaS as its Italian distributor in fall 2006. PANalytical, a Spectris company, opened a direct sales and support organization in Mexico in November 2006. The employees of PONA, the […]

South Korea’s economy is expected to grow by 4.5% this year, down from 5% last year. Last year, approximately 300,000 new jobs were created in the country, falling short of a goal of 350,000 jobs. To increase the number of jobs, ramp up investments and spur R&D activities, government will partner with the industry. The […]

Grand Rapids, MI 2/8/07; Amersham, UK 2/8/07—Halma has acquired X-Rite’s Labsphere business for $13.9 million in cash and a deferred cash consideration of $1.5 million. Labsphere is a designer and manufacturer of light testing and measurement products, as well as specialized optical coatings. The company posted 2006 revenues of $12.5 million and an operating profit […]

According to the FDA, 10% of drugs in the world are counterfeit. The World Health Organization (WHO) takes a more nuanced view: according to the organization, less than 1% of drugs in developed nations are counterfeit, but 10% of drugs in developing economies are counterfeit. However, in parts of Latin America, Southeast Asia and sub-Saharan […]

While President Bush’s proposed budget for FY08 would increase the total federal R&D investment by 1.4% to $143.0 billion, federal support of basic and applied research would decline to $55.4 billion, a 2% drop from the FY07 budget. Not including NASA, the total budget increase for nondefense R&D agencies is only 0.8%, below the national […]

At the third annual meeting of the Strategic Council for the Health Industry (CSIS), members of the government and leaders in the French health industry discussed methods to boost R&D spending and create more jobs. One goal of the CSIS is to increase the amount spent on R&D in the health industry by 10% over […]

Between 2000 and 2005, the Chinese biopharmaceutical sector grew 30%, while the global average for the sector grew 19%. Nonetheless, some observers are concerned that production will slow over the next five years. The fastest-growing Chinese biopharmaceutical manufacturers have concentrated on using genetically modified microorganisms to express proteins and very few are developing the capacity […]

Major restructurings of R&D operations were announced earlier this year by two of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, Pfizer and Roche. Such announcements are becoming more common for so-called “big pharma” (see IBO 4/15/05, 4/15/06), as many of the world’s 10 largest drug firms struggle to maintain historical levels of profitability during a period of […]