NEW YORK – Scope Fluidics and Technicolor Precision BioDevices this week announced a one-year agreement to manufacture cartridges for Scope’s BacterOMIC system. Technicolor Precision will provide small-scale production of the BacterOMIC cartridges, which are used to provide quantitative assessment of bacterial susceptibility to a wide range of antibiotics in a single test.
The cartridges will be manufactured in Technicolor Precision’s facility in Warsaw, Poland, featuring a dedicated manufacturing line for pilot and scale production, and further process optimization for reducing the cost of the consumable cartridges.
Yourgene said this week that its Yourgene Genomic Services business has been awarded a contract by the UK’s Department of Health and Social Care for the provision of laboratory capacity to the National Health Service Test and Trace Programme for COVID-19 testing.
In April, the company announced it was successful in securing tenders under Public Health England's National Microbiology Framework for Lots 1 to 4, meaning that public health authorities across the UK were able to issue contracts to procure goods and testing services from Yourgene. This contract is the first of the National Microbiology Framework Lot wins. It requires use of the company’s high-throughput automated COVID-19 services testing laboratory in Manchester. Terms of the contract were not disclosed.
Swedish diagnostics firm Immunovia said this week that its second quarter sales dropped 76 percent to SEK 38,000 ($4,314) from SEK 159,000 in Q2 2020. Its net loss for the recently completed quarter widened to SEK 49.3 million, or SEK 2.18 per share, compared to a net loss of SEK 34.1 million, or SEK 1.67 per share, a year ago. The loss for Q2 2021 was due in part to higher study costs, Immunovia said.
The firm's Q2 R&D costs dropped 10 percent year over year to SEK 12.1 million from SEK 13.5 million.
In the second quarter, the company received a CLIA Certificate of Registration from the Massachusetts Department of Health, a prerequisite to obtaining a clinical laboratory license to run the Immray PanCan-d test for the early detection of pancreatic cancer. Immunovia received the clinical lab license in early August.
Genetic Technologies said this week that it completed its previously announced acquisition of EasyDNA for $2.5 million in cash and $1.5 million in stock on Aug. 13. Of the cash consideration, $500,000 is being held in escrow for up to 12 months and is payable subject to the completion of certain conditions.
Life sciences company Cellink said this week that it has changed its name to BICO (BIo COnvergence) as a way to announce its new focus on the intersection of biology and technology. The company’s portfolio of life science products and its 11 subsidiaries span bioprinting, diagnostics, lab automation, and multiomics.
BICO said it now intends to focus on the future of health in the bioprinting, biosciences, and bioautomation business areas. Within those businesses, the company will focus on enabling safer and more accessible organ transplants, utilization of cultivated tissue from human cells to eliminate unnecessary animal testing, faster development of more affordable medicines, more personalized medicines, and faster and less expensive diagnostic tests to fight infectious diseases.
The company also reported that second quarter net sales rose 628 percent year over year to SEK 293.1 million ($33.2 million). The firm’s net loss for the quarter amounted to SEK 50.5 million, or SEK .89 per share.
SQI Diagnostics said this week that sales in its fiscal third quarter were flat year over year at C$300,000 ($233,190). The Toronto-based firm had a Q3 net loss of C$700,000, or C$.00 per share, compared to a net loss of C$1.5 million, or C$.01 per share, a year ago.
Its R&D spending rose 150 percent year over year to C$2.0 million from C$800,000, while its SG&A costs rose 71 percent year over year to C$1.2 million from C$700,000. The firm had cash and investments of C$5.0 million on June 30.
Quest Diagnostics has declared a quarterly dividend of $.62 per share, payable on Oct. 20 to shareholders of record on Oct. 5.
In Brief This Week is a selection of news items that may be of interest to our readers but had not previously appeared on 360Dx.