Praj records Q3 sales at Rs. 53.62 crore

Praj Industries, a knowledge-based company with expertise and experience in bioprocesses and engineering, recorded sales of Rs 53.62 crore and PBT of Rs 5.06 crore, and PAT of Rs 3.7 crore in the third quarter of FY 2005-06. For the nine months completed, sales are at Rs 171.96 crore (Rs 163.5 crore) and PBT of Rs 18.54 crore (Rs 21.07 crore).

"There is a lag of one to one and half month in performance cycle due to various reasons including the entry point and staggered schedules of the orders/projects. The anticipated business has come through resulting in a spurt of bookings in the last three to four months. We expect these orders to result into enhanced/improved performance in the coming quarters. Additionally, we are augmenting our resources to address this increase that has also meant higher personnel costs and higher deployment of capital, impacting the bottomline to the tune of almost Rs 4 crore. Our expansion of R&D and manufacturing facility is on target," said Pramod Chaudhari, chairman, Praj Industries.

LabVantage reports double-digit growth in 2005

LabVantage Solutions, Inc. an innovative global provider of enterprise solutions has achieved double-digit revenue growth in 2005, surpassing its last year's revenue. The revenues grew in each of the three global regions of operations: North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, fueled by demand for LabVantage's Sapphire Laboratory Information Management Solution (LIMS), the company's industry-leading thin-client solution for research, development, formulation, raw material testing, and quality management laboratories across multiple industries.

"We have continued to experience strong growth in R&D and quality management LIMS, and our introduction of the Sapphire BioBanking Solution further contributed to our expanded revenues. Our continued focus on providing a strong architectural foundation suppresident and CEO of LabVantage.
The release noted that some of the successful organizations of the world have selected LabVantage in 2005, including Pfizer, BASF (China), Danone and Finish Red Cross.

IMMCO launches operations in India

IMMCO Diagnostics Inc., a US-based global company in the field of autoimmune diagnostics having its presence in more than 70 countries, recently launched its operations in India. The company has a broad range of high quality autoimmune testing reagents in Elisa, immunofluorescence and western blot formats. IMMCO is fully integrated company with its sophisticated manufacturing facility in addition to complete in-house R&D. It also serves as a reference lab in the field of autoimmune testing in the US. The Indian operation of the company is headed by MK Singh as general manager-Asia Pacific. According to him, the Indian operations will cater to the needs of entire Asia Pacific region. Prior to his current appointment, MK Singh was with Bio-Rad Laboratories.

IMMCO has appointed Delhi-based Spectral Diagnostics as the sole distributor for selling its products.

BD completes acquisition of GeneOhm Sciences

BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company) announced the completion of its acquisition of GeneOhm Sciences, Inc., a pioneer in the development of molecular diagnostic testing for the rapid detection of bacterial organisms, including those known to cause healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), a growing global healthcare problem. The acquisition was finalized in accordance with terms originally disclosed in an announcement issued by BD on January 10, 2006. This acquisition further demonstrates BD's commitment to bringing new technologies and innovation to difficult problems in healthcare.

The acquisition of GeneOhm Sciences will enable BD to move quickly into the emerging HAI field and positions the company to become a leader in the prevention of this global healthcare problem. BD will implement a broad, global initiative to work with hospitals, governments and other related parties to address the challenge of reducing HAIs. The GeneOhm Sciences array of rapid molecular assays for detection of these "super bugs" will offer important tools to address the diagnostic challenge of providing almost immediate detection of these harmful, infection-causing organisms.

Manipal AcuNova standardizes on Thermo's product

Thermo Electron Corporation, a global player in analytical instruments, announced that Manipal AcuNova, a Bangalore-based India's emerging CRO has standardized on its FinniganTM TSQ Quantum UltraTM triple quadrupole mass spectrometers. Manipal AcuNova employed the instruments for routine operation in its high-sensitivity, high-throughput Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics (DMPK) laboratory. The Finnigan TSQ Quantum Ultra mass spectrometers were chosen because of the instruments' enhanced LC-MS/MS assay sensitivity, providing significant advantages for Manipal AcuNova during its demanding DMPK applications.
"By standardizing on Thermo's instrument, we are able to take advantage of its tried and tested features to leverage our position as one of the most promising CROs in the market," said DA Prasanna, vice chairman and managing director, Manipal AcuNova.

Providing enhanced ion transmission and increased sensitivity, Thermo's Finnigan TSQ Quantum Ultra series triple quadrupoles are the commercial triple quadrupoles available today capable of performing Highly Selective Reaction Monitoring (H-SRM), according to an official release. It also noted that H-SRM significantly increases quantitative specificity by eliminating matrix interferences. Ensuring rapid and accurate sample analysis, the Finnigan TSQ Quantum Ultra is designed for high productivity environments such as environmental, clinical and drug discovery laboratories.

Waters's Alliance System tops in readership survey

Readers of Laboratory Focus magazine selected the Waters Alliance HPLC System as the most reliable HPLC system in a readership survey conducted by the publishers of Laboratory Focus magazine. The company's release noted that the readers of the magazine have ranked Waters #1 for technical support. Introduced in 1996, the Alliance HPLC System has become a mainstay in research and development, and quality control laboratories worldwide with tens of thousands of installations across the globe, and is now arguably the most popular HPLC system in its class.