GeneFormatics Teams with Bristol-Myers in NMR
San Diego-based GeneFormatics said last week that it would collaborate with Bristol-Myers Squibb to develop NMR software for high-throughput analysis of 3D protein structures. The partnership also cross-licenses both companies’ NMR software.
In the deal, the pharmaceutical giant will have access to GeneFormatics’ accelerated NMR spectroscopy technology for protein structure analysis. In return, the structural proteomics company will be able to use Bristol-Myers Squibb analytical NMR technology.
This is the second protein analysis partnership between the two companies. In July 2000, the two struck a deal to determine potential therapeutic targets through analysis of protein function and structure.
DeCode Genetics to Acquire MediChem Life Sciences
DeCode Genetics has agreed to acquire Woodridge, Ill.-based MediChem Life Sciences in a stock-for-stock deal valued at $83.6 million, the two companies said last week.
The acquisition, which is expected to close in the second quarter of 2002, will provide DeCode with medicinal chemistry and protein crystallography capabilities through MediChem’s structural proteomics subsidiary, Emerald BioStructures, based in Bainbridge Island, Wash. DeCode will also gain control of MediChem subsidiaries ThermoGen, a company with expertise in protein expression and biocatalysis, and Advanced X-Ray Analytical Services, which provides protein x-ray analysis at the Advanced Photon Source at Argonne National Laboratory.
In September, MediChem cut its workforce by 25 percent, citing a “soft” economy and weak revenue from its proteomics ventures. “Proteomics is farther upstream in drug discovery, and obtaining business in that area is more intellectual property driven,” Richard Wieland, executive vice president and chief financial officer of MediChem, said at the time.
PerkinElmer to Distribute Nonlinear’s 1D Gel Software
PerkinElmer has agreed to market and distribute Nonlinear Dynamics’ software for image analysis, identification, and protein picking from 1D gels, the two companies said last week.
The software product, called the Proteome 1D Analyzer, is compatible only with Genomic Solutions’ ProPic protein picking robot, which PerkinElmer markets and distributes outside of the US and Japan. PerkinElmer also distributes Nonlinear Dynamics’ Progenesis software for automating the analysis of proteins using 2D gels.
Separately, Boston-based PerkinElmer said last week that it would non-exclusively co-market automated sample preparation equipment with Millipore. The deal couples PerkinElmer’s Packard brand instrumentation with Millipore sample prep platforms and software.
Bruker Sees Q4 Orders for Life Science Mass Specs Jump
Bruker Daltonics said last week orders for life science mass spectrometry systems during the fourth quarter 2001 had increased by 25 percent compared to the same period a year ago. Orders for the full year 2001 had also increased more than 25 percent, according to the Billerica, Mass.-based company.
Bruker’s MALDI-TOF systems, which include the new MALDI-TOF/TOF mass spectrometer, grew the most dramatically during 2001, by 40 percent. Ion trap mass spectrometer orders through Bruker or its partner Agilent Technologies grew 30 percent for the year. “We believe that we continue to gain market share with both platforms,” Bruker Daltonics CEO Frank Laukien said in a statement.
For the year 2002, Bruker expects revenue growth of between 22 percent and 27 percent, and earnings growth in the range of 40 percent to 60 percent.
Survey Ranks Amersham Top Proteomics Supplier
A web-based survey conducted by market research firm BioInformatics LLC found that Amersham Biosciences is the company scientists most closely associate with products and services for protein science and proteomics, BioInformatics said last week. Bio-Rad Laboratories ranked a close second.
The survey, one of an eight-part series titled “The Tools and Techniques of Protein Science,” also found that scientists value Invitrogen’s products in protein expression and purification, Ciphergen and Packard Bioscience for its protein microarrays, Agilent for its microfluidics equipment, Pierce Chemical for protein visualization, Applied Biosystems and Micromass for its mass spectrometers, and Clontech for its products that apply to in vivo biomolecular interactions.