PerkinElmer and Roche have struck another agreement covering the sales and distribution of Roche's NimbleGen CGX microarrays, reagents, instrument, and software.
As of January 2012, PerkinElmer will assume responsibility from Roche for sales, service, and support of the CGX array workflow for most countries outside of the US, the companies said last week. Roche, meantime, will continue to sell CGX arrays in the US and "other select markets."
Jim Corbett, president of diagnostics at PerkinElmer, said in a statement that his firm looks forward to selling a "proven cytogenetics-based solution to researchers of new diagnostics outside of the US."
The cooperation between PerkinElmer and Roche stems from PerkinElmer's 2011 $90 million acquisition of Spokane, Wash.-based genetic services lab Signature Genomics (BAN 4/20/2010). Prior to that deal, Roche had gained from Signature the right to sell Signature-designed comparative genomic hybridization arrays as a catalog product. The chips were subsequently launched under the brand CGX (BAN 11/10/2009).
Corbett told BioArray News at the time of his company's acquisition of Signature last year, that Roche would continue to manufacture the lab's arrays, and that Roche and PerkinElmer had inked a secure supply agreement. Though the companies both serve the genetic testing market, PerkinElmer's Signature Genomics offers services, while Roche NimbleGen is more engaged in selling products.
Roche's offering consists of NimbleGen CGX microarrays, reagent kits, the NimbleGen Hybridization Systems, and Signature Genomics' Genoglyphix software for data analysis. NimbleGen CGX arrays are available in multiple formats of slides containing three 720,000-probe arrays, six 315,000-probe arrays, and a dozen, 135,000-probe arrays.
Further terms of the new deal were not discussed.