Roche Diagnostics and CapitalBio announce new partnership

Roche Diagnostics is to enter into collaboration with Beijing-based technology firm CapitalBio in a new partnership in the field of molecular diagnostics.

The two companies have announced their intention to create a strategic alliance that will initially focus on developing instruments and products to enhance the Roche NimbleGen microarray workflow, as well as other microarray technologies.

In addition, the firms intend to cooperate in expanding education regarding the benefits of molecular diagnostics and next-generation sequencing innovations internationally.

It is hoped that the partnership will help to address the unmet needs of researchers and scientists in this field.

Dr Manfred Baier, head of Roche Applied Science, said: "This agreement is a significant step for Roche in forming closer relations with China's premier biochip development company."

Last month, Roche published its financial results for the first nine months of 2010, reporting a two percent rise in overall sales compared to the same period of last year.