Dog Days News

Scanning the news wires today makes it clear that we are heading into the dog days of summer, newswise. It's the week before the long July 4th weekend in the US, one where many business types are looking to wrap things up at the office quickly enough to go on holiday. In New York City, Friday afternoon will likely be gridlock on the highways and at the airports.

CombiMatrix and STMicroelectronics today announced an agreement to collaborate on developing diagnostic technology. CombiMatrix will provide its ElectroChemical Detection microarray technology and ST will provide its microfluidic lab-on-chip PCR tools and undisclosed financial support to Mulkiteo, Wash.-based CombiMatrix, the life sciences subsidiary of Acacia Research. No time frame was provided for any commercialization of products coming from the alliance. Combi has a well-developed but early-stage semiconductor-based life-sciences technolgy while ST has the ability to manufacture it in mass.

The new Bayer Diagnostics division today announced a licensing agreement with BTG and DxS for the use of DNA diagnostic technology for the development of pharmacogenomic tests. BTG and DxS will allow Bayer full use of their Amplification Refractory Mutation System, a method for the detection of genetic variations and single nucleotide polymorphisms. Financial details were not disclosed.

Mark Levin, the co-founder of Millennium Pharmaceuticals, is stepping down from his position as CEO and chairman of the company and will be replaced by Deborah Dunsire, Novartis senior vice president and head of oncology drugs for North America. Kenneth Weg, formerly a senior executive at Bristol-Myers Squibb, will become Millennium's new chairman. Levin will remain on the board, but will not be active in the company's headquarters in Cambridge, Mass.

Molecular Profiling Institute, a molecular-biology testing services firm associated with the Translational Genomics Research Institute, is acquiring the assets of medical device startup Nanobiomics, an Arizona State University spinoff, the Phoenix-area companies said yesterday. Financial details of the cash-and-equity deal were not disclosed.

Bob Waterston, one of the key scientists in the human genome project, will receive the 2005 Genetics Prize, and a $200,000 unrestricted cash award that comes with it, from the Peter Gruber Foundation. Waterston is the chairman of the departmet of genomic sciences at the University of Washington.