Thursday, August 18, 2011

PerkinElmer inks new distribution deal with Roche

By Rodney H. Brown

PerkinElmer Inc. (NYSE: PKI) has entered into a new supply agreement with Switzerland’s Roche for distribution of the NimbleGen CGX microarray workflow the two developed together.

Starting in January of 2012, Waltham-based PerkinElmer will assume responsibility from Roche for sales, service and support of the CGX array workflow for most countries outside of the U.S., according to a release. Roche will still sell the cytogenetic testing system in the U.S. and other select markets. The two companies started working together on a cytogenetics array workflow in 2009.

The NimbleGen CGX array workflow uses microarray technologies developed by Roche with the cytogenetic-focused array design and analysis software from Signature Genomics, which was acquired by PerkinElmer in May of 2010. 

So far this year, PerkinElmer has been on an acquisition tear, acquiring at least four companies since the spring. In June, the company bought London-based Dexela Limited, a provider of X-ray detection technologies and services, for undisclosed terms.  In the prior month, PerkinElmer acquired Seattle-based lab cloud computing software firm Geospiza Inc. and Ontario, Canada-based health IT company Labtronics Inc. In March, PerkinElmer announced it bought Durham, N.C.-based Artuslabs and Cambridge-based life sciences software firm CambridgeSoft. In February, the company announced it had acquired Germany-based Chemagen Biopolymer-Technologie AG.