Invitrogen Acquires BioSource

New Biology Economy today returns to daily publishing after a one-week summer hiatus.

Invitrogen will buy Camarillo, Calif.-based BioSource for $130 million in cash, the company said Tuesday, ending a saga that started in the spring when Bio-Rad was rebuffed as it made several attempts to buy the firm for about $80 million.

BioSource employs some 240 people and sells products for genomic and proteomic research. With the purchase, which is slated to close by the end of the year pending regulatory and shareholder approval, acquisitive Invitrogen adds cytokine reagents and assays to its product portfolio.

In a photo op earlier this week, the University of Albany (NY) previewed its new cancer research center, known as the GenNYSis Center for Excellence in Cancer Genomics.

The 113,000 square foot building is located on the university's east campus in Rensselaer, NY. The center cost a little more than $45 million to complete, with most of the money coming from state grants and local businesses.

Sunnyvale, Calif-based Labcyte earlier this week announced the closing of a $21 million Series C financing with its major investors and three new firms participating. The round was led by Cross Atlantic Partners and included Hambrecht & Quist Capital Management and the Bay Area Equity Fund, a fund managed by JPMorgan, as new investors. Labcyte will use the funds for expanding its low-volume liquid handling business. Labcyte is a privately held company that was formed by the merger of Picoliter and Labcyte in October, 2003.

Applied Biosystems, Applera's life sciences business and the genome-sequencing technology leader, on Wednesday reported 4 percent growth on revenues of $478.5 million for the fourth quarter ending June 30, compared to $460.5 million a year ago. Net revenues were boosted 1 percent by foreign currency exchange benefits. ABI had net income of $72 million, up over $51 million a year ago, and boosted by $10.6 million related to discontinued operations.

The company reported revenue of $143 million for its declining DNA sequencing business, a 2 percent increase, year over year; a 16 percent increase to $140 million for its Real-Time PCR business; a 1 percent drop on revenues of $119 million for its mass spec business; a 7 percent decline in PCR.

For the year, ABI's instruments business was down 4 percent, while consumables increased 12 percent.

The company's cash and short term investments were $756 million, up from $676 million as of March 31, 2005.

Earlier this week, ABI announced that it has entered an agreement with the National Institute of Genomic Medicine of Mexico to conduct a genotyping study of Mexico's population. Financial details of the collaboration were not disclosed.

"The Mexican population includes a mixture of more than 60 Meso-American native groups and Spaniards. Analyzing and characterizing genetic variation in our unique population is the only way to cost-effectively develop better strategies for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of common diseases in our country, such as diabetes, asthma, and hypertension," said Gerardo Jimenez Sanchez, director general of the Mexican genomics group.

On a related note, the Cape Times publication of South Africa, an article uses the human genome project as a jumping-off point to denounce South Africa's “obsession with race classification.”

. . . the present government is using race classification as a means of monitoring its success in bringing about transformation and equity in respect of a number of indices in South African society post-1994.

The author of the op-ed piece calls for the scrapping of all racial classification in the country.

Branford, Conn.-based 454 Life Sciences, a majority-owned subsidiary of CuraGen Corporation and a rising competitor to ABI in the DNA sequencing market, said Tuesday that is has earned $11.5 million in milestone payments from Roche. The two companies entered an exclusive 5-year, world-wide agreement for the promotion, sale, and distribution of 454's genome sequencing systems, capped at $62 million.

Cynthia Kenyon of the University of California, San Francisco, and research colleagues have published a paper in the initial Public Library of Science Genetics journal.

The paper discloses some 23 genes in the worm and model organism C. elegans that each “somehow normally acts to reduce longevity, whereas inhibiting any one of them increases lifespan,” according to a statement.

The genes affect a wide variety of activities, including insulin signaling, metabolism, and dietary regulation.