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NEXUS Biosystems acquires sister company Aurora Biotechnologies
January 2010
EDIT CONNECT
SHARING OPTIONS:
Telegraph Hill is the majority investor in NEXUS and Aurora
is another THP-portfolio company. NEXUS president and CEO John Lillig notes
that there are true synergies in the new combination.
"We're a leading innovator and worldwide provider of automated
sample management systems and Aurora—just 30 miles away in Carlsbad, Calif.—is
a leading developer of proprietary, high-performance microplates for use in
sample storage systems such as ours. Combining the technologies and personnel
of Aurora with Nexus will enable us to provide a wider spectrum of products for
our current and future customers around the world."
NEXUS represents a highly successful variant of the biotech
startup. Launched only four years ago, the company has become one of the
leaders in its product category and is "making money on the bottom line,"
Lillig states.
"With the recent launch of our automated -80°C BioStore line
of sample management systems and our new XPeel microplate de-sealer, 2009 has
been a strong growth year for Nexus," he says. "As we head into 2010 with the
acquisition of Aurora Biotechnologies, we are very excited about the
opportunity to expand our product reach beyond automated sample management into
high-throughput biochemical, cell-based and genomic screening applications."
Aurora's staff will make the 30-mile hike to work at NEXUS
headquarters in Poway, with Aurora president and chief technical officer Dr.
Peter Coassin becoming vice president of science. Dr. Rhett Affleck, who
currently holds that position at NEXUS, will become vice president of
technology.
The automated storage systems developed and marketed by
NEXUS are Brobdingnagian in both size and capability. Many cost $1 million or
more and can process 100,000 samples per day. The units can handle an array of
storage container types—tubes, vials, racks and plates—with multiple pickers
on the front of the system.
At sanofi-aventis, Lillig notes, the NEXUS system is a
two-story, 34-foot-tall arrangement that provides access to chemists working on
the first level and biologists upstairs. NEXUS also stores millions of pharma
compounds and biological materials such as blood and DNA at its facility.
Customers ask for samples and run tests for biomarker, personalized medicine
and other studies.
Coassin notes that "Aurora's understanding of key processes
in assay technologies and consumables makes us a great fit with the Nexus
sample management and sample processing technologies. The combination of the
two companies is timely as the research market is looking for cost-saving, high
quality, efficiency-enhancing solutions." Aurora serves the discovery research
markets with unique, cyclo-olefin, optically pure consumable microplate
products that enable high-throughput analysis of chemical compounds and
cellular assays. Absolutely flat plastic sheets are molded into the frame of
the plates to produce a broad range of high performance microplate designs,
including 96-, 384-, 1,536- and 3,456-well plates.
NEXUS has already added two
people to the Aurora group, John Lillig adds, and the Aurora product line will
also benefit from access to NEXUS' sales network via its European subsidiary
NEXUS Biosystems GmbH in Munich, Germany, and its distribution offices
throughout the United States, Europe and Asia.
Code: E011010 Back |
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