Business News
Signal Genetics Acquires ChipDX, a Prognostic-Cancer-Test Company
Signal Genetics, a privately held predictive-genetic-testing company focused on oncology and headquartered in New York City, announced that it will acquire all assets of ChipDX LLC (New York City), a prognostic-cancer-test company, including patents for prognostic tests in lung, breast, and colon cancers. The announcement appeared on MarketWatch.com. As part of the transaction, Signal will acquire the BreastGeneDX, ColonGeneDX, and LungGeneDX tests, all of which are in...
Response Genetics Raises $7.8M in Financing
Response Genetics Inc. has entered into purchase agreements with investors to raise more than $7.8 million from the private placement of approximately 5,300,000 newly issued shares of its common stock at a purchase price of $1.50 per share. New investors accounted for the majority of the financing, while existing investors, as well as board members and senior management, made up the remainder. The signing of the purchase agreements occurred on Wednesday, February 1, 2012. Final closing of the...
Enzo Life Sciences Sues Roche, Gen-Probe
GenomeWeb Daily News reported that Enzo Life Sciences has filed lawsuits against Roche, Life Technologies, and Gen-Probe, alleging they infringed Enzo's patent pertaining to labeled nucleotides for use as diagnostic tools. According to GenomeWeb, in the lawsuits filed January 30 in U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, Enzo claimed that the companies infringed U.S. Patent No. 6,992,180 titled "Oligo- or polynucleotides comprising phosphate-moiety labeled nucleotides" that...
Pacific Edge Diagnostics to Open U.S. Office
Hershey Center for Applied Research (HCAR) prepares to welcome another international company to its thriving research facility. Based in Dunedin, New Zealand, Pacific Edge Diagnostics Ltd., a developer of cancer diagnostic and prognostic technology, plans to open its first U.S. franchise to market the company's bladder cancer detection test, Cxbladder, to urologists in the United States by the end of the year. Looking to build a better understanding of the U.S. marketplace, Pacific Edge chose...
Roche to Nominate Directors at Illumina Annual Meeting
Roche has provided notice to Illumina Inc. that it will nominate a slate of highly qualified, independent candidates for election to Illumina’s Board of Directors and propose certain other matters for the consideration of Illumina’s shareholders at Illumina’s 2012 annual meeting, which, if adopted, would result in Roche-nominated directors comprising a majority of the Illumina board. Roche also named five alternate nominees for election to Illumina’s board. In addition...
Thermo Fisher Scientific Develops Method To Detect Carbendazim in OJ
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. announced that scientists at its global Food Safety Response Center, located in Dreieich, Germany, have developed and internally validated a new method for detecting residue levels of the fungicide carbendazim in oranges and orange juice. The new carbendazim method was developed in response to the FDA announcement in January that it would test shipments of imported orange juice for the fungicide. Thermo Fisher’s method can detect carbendazim in orange juice...
Xagenic Closes $10M Financing
Xagenic Inc. announced the close of a Series A financing totaling $10 million. The financing was co-led by CTI Life Sciences Fund (CTI) and the Ontario Emerging Technologies Fund (OETF) with significant participation by QIAGEN NV. The funds will be used to develop a molecular diagnostic testing platform and lead tests designed for use in physician offices, clinics and hospital settings. Xagenic is a University of Toronto spinout company based in Toronto. This round of financing builds on a $2.2...
Thermo Fisher Scientific PCT Assay Available for Abbott Analyzers
Thermo Fisher Scientific announced an agreement with Abbott Laboratories to make its Procalcitonin (PCT) assay available with Abbott’s immunochemistry analyzers. The company’s Thermo Scientific B.R.A.H.M.S Procalcitonin (PCT) assay will be available on Abbott’s ARCHITECT i and ci series of immunochemistry analyzers. Abbott’s high-, medium-, and low-volume integrated diagnostic testing solutions leverage software, reagents, and sample carrier to enable labs to standardize...
Roche vs. Illumina: The Drama Intensifies
  Update: The New York Times' Dealbook blog posted this in-depth look at the loophole in Illumina's organizational documents that is making it possible for Roche to gain the advantage.   As we blogged about last week, Roche intends to buy Illumina Inc., an international company headquartered in San Diego that develops and manufactures array-based systems for DNA, RNA, and protein analysis. However, Illumina's Board of Directors appears to be uninterested in Roche’s offer and has...
Abbott Announces Job Cuts
The Chicago Tribune reported that Abbott Laboratories is cutting 700 jobs in the United States and Puerto Rico as part of a restructuring effort in two of its manufacturing operations. Abbott plans to cut about 200 positions at its Lake County campus, a majority of which support its hospital and laboratory diagnostic business. The local layoffs are the result of the discontinuation of some of the company's mature products in the hospital and laboratory diagnostics division, announced as part of...