PerkinElmer buys Chemagen Biopolymer-Technologie

Published: 15-Feb-2011

Broadens molecular diagnostics portfolio


Health and industrial sciences company PerkinElmer has acquired Chemagen Biopolymer-Technologie of Germany, boosting its presence in the molecular diagnostics and research markets.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

Chemagen is a key player in the field of automated nucleic acid isolation. The purification of DNA, RNA, or viral DNA/RNA is facilitated through its M-PVA Magnetic Bead technology.

Chemagen’s high performance diagnostic instrument is the chemagic MSM I, which enables the automated separation of nucleic acids from sample volumes between 10µl and 10ml. The chemagic Prepito is a benchtop instrument relying on the separation technology for up to 1000µl sample material and 1–12 samples in parallel.

Daniel Marshak, chief scientific officer and president, Emerging Diagnostics at Waltham, Massachusetts-based PerkinElmer, described Chemagen as a ‘natural fit’.

‘Nucleic acids are the building blocks of DNA and RNA, modulators of genetic function and information,’ he added. ‘Our ability to provide automated nucleic acid isolation technologies through this acquisition significantly facilitates applications such as large-scale pathogen detection in blood banking, human genetics applications such as HLA typing, autoimmune analysis and tissue rejection analysis.’

Chemagen, based in Baesweiler, Germany was founded in December 1997 and formed a US subsidiary in 2009.

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