NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – PerkinElmer disclosed in its Form 10-K filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission this week that it had cut its workforce by 114 employees during the fourth quarter. It said that it took pre-tax restructuring charges of $2.3 million for its Human Health segment and $4.7 million for its Environmental Health segment related to severance costs and the closure of excess facility space. As reported in January by GenomeWeb Daily News, PerkinElmer planned to cut about 75 jobs from its Shelton, Conn., facility as it planned to transfer manufacturing of four analytical instrument product lines to two existing PerkinElmer facilities in Singapore and Llantrisant, UK.
Thermo Fisher Scientific said in its Form 10-K this week that during fiscal-year 2011 it took charges related to severance and abandoned facility costs for all three of its segments. For the Analytical Technologies segment, the firm said that severance costs for approximately 460 employees were $19.3 million, along with $7.0 million of abandoned facility costs. For the Specialty Diagnostics segment, severance costs for around 80 employees was $6.7 million, with $700,000 in abandoned facility costs. For the Laboratory Products and Services segment, severance costs for roughly 940 employees totaled $18.1 million, with $4.2 million of abandoned facility costs.
Canadian firm Axela said it has received about C$708,000 (US$711,447) from the Canadian government in support of the expansion of its multiplex biomarker technologies. The money comes from the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario through FedDev Ontario's Investing in Business Innovation program. The money will go toward development of Toronto-based Axela's clinical research and diagnostic tools for enhanced analysis of proteins, DNA, and RNA biomarkers.
BioStorage Technologies has expanded its European operations to include sample preparation services, including sample aliquoting, nucleic acid extraction, verification, and peripheral blood monitoring cells processing. The new services gives the Indianapolis-based company the ability to provide its customers better control over the quality of nucleic acid samples that are shipped to central or referral laboratories for testing services, it said.
Berg Diagnostics this week said that it has received Massachusetts Clinical Laboratory Licensure and Certificate of Registration under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendment. The Boston-based firm said that the licensure would enable it to immediately diversify its operations to include biomarker validation and development of companion diagnostics.
Modern Mobility Aids said this week that it expects to complete the acquisition of Lumigene Technologies by the end of March. The deal will provide the firm with point-of-care molecular diagnostics technology developed by the Canadian firm. It said the purchase price is "largely predicated on the achievement of certain key business, patent, and technological milestones."
In Brief This Week is a Friday column containing news items that our readers may have missed during the week.