Roche and PerkinElmer agree new distribution collaboration

Roche is entering into a new alliance with fellow life science company PerkinElmer on the distribution of the NimbleGen CGX microarray workflow.

Under the terms of the new arrangement, PerkinElmer will take responsibility for the sale, service and support of the constitutional disease research tool in the majority of territories outside the US.

PerkinElmer will leverage its expertise in the genetic screening market and cytogenetics fields to support the platform, while Roche will continue to sell the workflow in the US and several selected markets.

This is the latest phase in an ongoing relationship between the two companies, which have worked together since 2009 on the development of the NimbleGen CGX array workflow.

Frank Pitzer, chief executive officer of Roche NimbleGen, said: "This collaboration provides cytogenetics laboratories an array workflow with robust data, a quick and easy workflow and powerful analysis tools."

Last month, Roche announced that its dried blood sampling technique is to be utilised in South Africa to improve HIV and Aids detection rates among young children.