Illumina to Buy Back as Much as $75M in Stock
Illumina plans to buy back as much as $75 million of its outstanding common stock over a six-month period, and has filed a trading plan to allow it to complete the transactions.
Last month Illumina said it would use $200 million from a senior note sale to buy back its own stock (see BAN 2/20/2007).
OGT Will Use Integrated Genomics' P. pastoris Sequence to Develop Microarray
Oxford Gene Technology this week said will use a gene sequence from the Pichia pastoris yeast owned by Integrated Genomics to develop a new microarray.
Under the agreement, OGT will use the sequence to design and build a 60-mer microarray that uses OGT’s ink-jet synthesis platform.
OGT will market the array worldwide and offer sample analysis services at its UK lab.
P. pastoris is a methylotrophic yeast commonly used in recombinant DNA and protein expression projects.
Financial terms of the agreement were not released.
XDx Licenses U. of Minnesota IP to Develop Lupus Dx
XDx said last week that it will license IP from the University of Minnesota that will enable it to use gene expression technology to assess the status of systemic lupus erythematosus in patients.
XDx also said it has entered a separate agreement with UM and the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in New York that gives it access to SLE patient samples taken from an NIH-funded study of biomarkers for autoimmune diseases.
The company plans to use these samples to in its work to develop lupus diagnostics.
Financial terms of the agreement were not released.
FDA to Review Two Roche Genotyping Tests That Detect, Strain-Type HPV
Roche Diagnostics today this week that the US Food and Drug Administration will review for clearance a pair of its genotyping-based tests that detect and strain-type human papillomavirus.
According to Roche, the first test, called Amplicor HPV, will detect 13 high-risk HPV genotypes from clinical samples, while the other test, the Linear Array, will identify “which of those 13 types are in a particular sample.
Daniel O’Day, head of Roche Molecular Diagnostics, said HPV tests could help doctors “identify and manage persistent, high-risk HPV infections before they progress to more serious forms of the disease.”
Recent studies have shown that women infected with HPV are at increased risk for developing cervical cancer.
Duke Microarray Facility Buys a BioMicro MAUI Hybridization System
Duke University's microarray facility has purchased a BioMicro hybridization system, the Salt Lake City-based company said this week.
BioMicro, a microarray and microfluidics company, said Duke will use its MAUI hybridization system at the Microarray Facility and Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy.
Duke said it now has three MAUI systems at the facility.
Financial terms of the agreement were not released.