NEW YORK – Becton Dickinson's board this week declared a quarterly dividend of $.77 per share of common stock, payable on Sept. 30 to shareholders of record at the close of business on Sept. 9. The board has also declared a quarterly dividend of $15.31 per share for its 6.125 percent Series A mandatory convertible preferred stock, payable on Nov. 1 to holders of record on Oct. 15.
PerkinElmer's board this week declared a quarterly dividend of $.07 per share of common stock, payable on Nov. 8 to shareholders of record at the close of the business day on Oct. 18.
The International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium (IWGSC) said this week that BASF has joined the organization as a sponsoring partner. The consortium, which includes wheat growers, plant scientists, and public and private breeders, is developing genomic resources to facilitate the production of better wheat varieties. Consortium sponsors participate in IWGSC-led projects and help shape the organization's priorities, strategic plans, and activities. John Jacobs, program leader for crop efficiency at BASF, will represent the company on the IWGSC coordinating committee.
Liquid biopsy firm Biocept announced this week that it has entered into a laboratory services provider agreement with Beacon Laboratory Benefit Solutions, a provider of laboratory benefit management technology solutions to health and managed care companies in the US. As part of its services to help health plans improve test ordering efficiency, appropriateness, affordability, and quality of care, BeaconLBS marks certain labs as Labs-of-Choice. According to Biocept, this agreement will mean more patients will have access to the company's menu of products.
VolitionRx said this week that an existing investor has exercised the balance of a warrant to purchase $4.8 million in aggregate amount of the company's common stock at $3 per share. Volition will use the net proceeds for further product development, clinical studies, product commercialization, working capital, and other general corporate purposes.
Caris Life Sciences announced this week that the University of Puerto Rico has become the 28th member of its Precision Oncology Alliance, a collaborative network of leading cancer centers dedicated to developing standards of care and best practices for precision oncology. As part of the alliance, clinicians from UPR-affiliated hospitals will use the firm's Next Generation Profiling offerings and Molecular Intelligence platform to prioritize therapeutic options and clinical trial opportunities for their patients, as well as collaborating with other alliance members in precision medicine research.
In Brief This Week is a selection of news items that may be of interest to our readers but had not previously appeared on GenomeWeb.