NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Quidel will receive about $1.9 million this year from its 2012 collaboration with Life Technologies to develop molecular assays, Quidel said in its Form 10-Q filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission this week.
Payments received or due from Life Tech during the first three months of 2013 totaled $1.1 million, which Quidel recognized as a reduction in R&D expenses in its first-quarter earnings results released this week. For the remainder of the year, Quidel expects another $800,000 from the Life Tech deal, it said. The amount it received from the collaboration in 2012 was $3 million.
The company also said in its SEC document that in March it entered into a six-year instruments supply agreement with Life Tech for $800,000. As part of the agreement it will sell Life Tech's QuantStudio Dx PCR-based instrument for use in the infectious disease field, along with assays developed under the 2012 collaboration.
SynapDx launched a 660-child, 20-site clinical study to evaluate the Lexington, Mass.-based company's blood-based test for the early diagnosis of autism. The study includes Boston Children's Hospital; Mount Sinai Hospital; Nationwide Children's Hospital; the University of California, Davis, MIND Institute; and Vanderbilt University.
The Roswell Park Cancer Institute has joined the New York Genome Center as an associate member. The collaboration is aimed at hastening clinical applications for sequencing in oncology. Earlier this month, the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University joined NYGC as its 12th Institutional Founding Member.
Centrillion Biosciences announced its new Sequencing Innovation Grant award program. The program is open to academic, clinical, and industrial researchers and will be awarded to those proposals that demonstrate innovative applications of next-generation sequencing technology, the company said. Grants will awarded in the form of sample sequencing and bioinformatics analysis services for moderate-sized projects. The program is open to researchers in the US. The deadline is May 17, and more details can be found here.
Diaxonhit, through its marketing subsidiary InGen, has won a major tender from the Paris Hospitals' central purchasing agency. The tender involves supplying tests for histocompatibility studies in the area of transplantation. The tender is for two years and could result in revenues of up to €5.5 million ($7.2 million) to Diaxonhit.
Theradiag's anti-CCP IVD kit for rheumatoid arthritis has received a CE mark. The kit is for use in detecting anti-cyclic citrullinated peptides antibodies, and it expands Theradiag's Fidis portfolio of diagnostic tests for autoimmune diseases. It is the third diagnostic kit from the French company to obtain CE mark this year, Theradiag said.
Amorfix Life Sciences, a Canadian firm developing antibody therapeutics and companion diagnostics for cancer and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, closed on the second and final tranche of a non-brokered private placement, which raised C$117,000 (US$114,000) in gross proceeds. The funding will go toward further development of its research programs and general corporate purposes.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Real-Time RT-PCR (rRT-PCR) Protocol LP-152 for Detection and Characterization of Avian A/H7 (Eurasian lineage) Influenza recommended that public health and other qualified laboratories use Quanta BioSciences' qScript One-Step qRT-PCR Kit, Low ROX, for detecting H7N9 Avian influenza, Quanta said. It added that it has "engaged" its global distribution network to ensure a steady supply of the technology. The FDA this week also issued an emergency use authorization for an assay from CDC for the virus.
French genomic services and molecular diagnostic company IntegraGen reported that full-year 2012 operating revenues was essentially flat year over year at €4.8 million ($6.3 million). Sales reached €4.7 million, up from €4.6 million a year ago, while other revenues were down to €65,000 from €190,000. The company had a net loss of €1.7 million, compared to a net loss of €2.0 million in 2011. It ended 2012 with €4.9 million in cash.
In Brief This Week is a Friday column containing news items that our readers may have missed during the week.