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In Brief This Week: PerkinElmer, Becton Dickinson, MDxHealth, and More

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – PerkinElmer this week declared a regular quarterly dividend of $.07 per share of common stock, payable on August 10 to all shareholders of record at the close of business on July 20.


Becton Dickinson's board this week declared a quarterly dividend of $.75 per share, payable on June 29 to shareholders of record on June 8. The indicated annual dividend rate is $3 per share, the firm said. The board also declared a quarterly dividend of $15.31 per share on the 6.15 percent mandatory convertible preferred stock, Series A, payable on Aug. 1 to shareholders of record on July 15.


MDxHealth announced this week that its ConfirmMDx prostate cancer test has been included in the 2018 European Association of Urology (EAU) guidelines. The EAU guidelines assist clinicians in making informed treatment decisions, and the inclusion of ConfirmMDx in the guidelines will facilitate adoption of the test in EU member State-specific guidelines, the firm said.


The Wistar Institute and Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania — a nonprofit conglomerate of partners providing funding, mentorship, and networks to startup companies — have signed a memorandum of understanding to advance early-stage life sciences startups coming out of Wistar. Ben Franklin recently announced the seed funding of ISOMA Diagnostics, a Wistar spinout focused on helping to identify targeted therapies for glioblastoma patients, as well as growth stage funding for MBF Therapeutics, a Wistar licensee that is developing immunotherapies for cancer and infectious diseases in animals.

Under the MOU, Ben Franklin and Wistar will be developing a multidisciplinary mentoring program around technology development for translational scientists and entrepreneurs, taking place at Wistar, featuring Ben Franklin experts who will contribute support and guidance on technology commercialization, with the potential to fund Wistar startups.


Novacyt said this week that it had a net loss of €5.4 million ($6.5 million) in 2017, compared to a net loss of €5.7 million in 2016. The firm ended the year with €4.3 million in cash. In January, the company said that 2017 revenues grew 35 percent year over year to €15.0 million.


Genomenon said this week that its partnership with Rhythm Pharmaceuticals to develop a database of genetic mutations associated with obesity as documented in the medical literature has resulted in a biomarker database of more than 10,000 mutations in 120 genes. Genomenon deployed its Mastermind Genomic Search Engine to create the database, which was developed in less than 60 days and which includes a list of clinically relevant citations for every disease-variant association for obesity found in the medical literature.


Thermo Fisher Scientific and Leica Microsystems announced this week that they have teamed up to develop an integrated cryo-tomography workflow for life science research. The partners intend to integrate light microscopes from Leica with cryo-electron microscopes from Thermo Fisher to provide researchers and scientists with faster and better insights into the mechanisms of diseases. The alliance will enable researchers to safely transfer vitrified samples from a cryo-light microscope to a cryo-electron microscope. The new workflow also will be designed to allow a full data transfer from the light to the electron microscope and to enable users to easily navigate to the targeted protein structure using specific coordinates in the electron microscope, the partners said.


Enzo Biochem and its subsidiary Enzo Life Sciences announced this week that the Patent Trial and Appeal Board has denied a petition filed by Hologic for inter partes review, a procedure for challenging the validity of patent claims, against US Patent 6,221,581. Enzo Life Sciences is asserting US Patent 6,221,581 in patent infringement litigation against Hologic, Grifols Diagnostic Solutions, and Grifols SA in the US District Court for the District of Delaware.


Meridian Bioscience this week declared a regular quarterly cash dividend of $.13 per share, payable on May 17 to shareholders of record as of the end of the business day on May 7.


Spanish in vitro diagnostic firm Werfen this week reported its total revenues for 2017 increased 13 percent year over year to €1.34 billion ($1.62 billion). Hemostasis testing revenues rose by almost 8 percent year over year, autoimmunity revenues grew by 7 percent, and its new acute care diagnostics business line saw 5 percent organic growth. The firm said its net profit grew 15 percent year over year to €160 million in 2017.


Personalis said this week that the College of American Pathologists has reaccredited the firm's clinical laboratory in Menlo Park, California. The lab was first accredited in 2014. During the accreditation process the lab’s records and quality control procedures for the preceding two years are examined by inspectors. They also review lab staff qualifications, equipment, facilities, safety programs and records, and overall management.


IntegraGen said this week that it has earned ISO 13485:2016 certification from Bureau Veritas. The certification indicates that the company’s quality management systems meet specific standards required for the design, development, production, and marketing of in vitro diagnostic kits. It also demonstrates IntegraGen’s commitment to a proper industrial approach by adopting international quality standards, the firm said.


In Brief This Week is a selection of news items that may be of interest to our readers but had not previously appeared on the GenomeWeb site.