NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Thermo Fisher Scientific disclosed in a regulatory filing last week that on Oct. 1, the US Supreme Court denied a June petition by Promega to review an earlier Court of Appeals decision regarding an intellectual property dispute between Promega and Life Technologies, now part of Thermo Fisher. As a result of the Supreme Court's denial, Thermo Fisher reversed a $52 million accrual in the third quarter and recorded the gain under restructuring and other costs in its income statement.
The firm also disclosed that it had acquired Becton Dickinson's Advanced Bioprocessing business for $477 million in cash on Oct. 25. The company had said in September that it signed an agreement to purchase BD's business, which is now becoming part of its life sciences solutions segment.
This week, Thermo Fisher declared a quarterly cash dividend of $.17 per common share, payable on Jan. 15, 2019 to shareholders of record as of Dec. 17, 2018.
Australia-based Primary Health Care said this week that it has deployed more than 70 Siemens Healthineers Atellica Solution immunoassay and clinical chemistry analyzers, making it Siemens Healthineers' largest contract for in vitro diagnostic testing in that region. Primary Health Care has more than 2,300 national pathology collection sites, and one in three pathology samples taken in Australia is tested in one of its labs.
Enzymatic DNA synthesis company DNA Script announced this week that it has created a US subsidiary. The firm also said it has expanded its executive team in the US with the appointments of Jeffrey Jeddeloh to the post of VP of business development and commercial strategy, Stephen Macevicz to the post of VP of intellectual property, and Christine Peponnet to the post of VP of technology development.
Interpace Diagnostics announced this week that the Blue Cross Blue Shield Federal Employee Health Benefit Program has extended coverage of the firm's ThyGeNext and ThyraMir thyroid cancer diagnostics to its 5.3 million covered lives, including federal employees, retirees, and their families.
Expedeon reported this week that its third quarter revenues rose to €3.7 million ($4.2 million) in the third quarter from €2.4 million in Q3 2017. The firm also reported that its Q3 net loss narrowed to €519,000 from €1.2 million a year ago.
VolitionRX this week reported a third quarter net loss of $4.5 million, or $.14 per share, compared to a net loss of $3.9 million, or $.15 per share, in the year-ago period. It had cash and cash equivalents of $16.4 million as of Sept. 30. In July, the company received about $700,000 in non-dilutive funding from the Walloon Regional Government, then followed that up the next month by raising $9 million in a private placement.
Quest Diagnostics and Oxford Immunotec Global announced this week that Quest has completed its previously announced acquisition of Oxford Immunotec's US laboratory services business. The T-Spot.TB tuberculosis and the Accutix tick-borne disease testing services are now part of Quest's portfolio. As part of the transaction, Oxford Immunotec will sell T-Spot.TB test kits and related accessories to Quest under the terms of a long-term supply agreement. In addition, the companies have entered into a strategic collaboration agreement to drive continued growth of T-Spot.TB testing in the US.
Premaitha Health said this week that is has changed its name to Yourgene Health to reflect its broadened product development and research service capabilities. Premaitha acquired Taiwan-based Yourgene Bioscience earlier this year. The company’s shares are now trading under the ticker symbol YGEN.
The College of American Pathologists said this week that it has granted ISO15189 certification to Centogene. The accreditation was based on the International Organization for Standardization 15189 standard for laboratories technical competence, management, and continual improvement, and focuses on improved patient safety and risk reduction by outlining standards for quality and competence specific to medical labs.
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.