DNA analysis firm febit files for bankruptcy
launching its first product, the geniom one DNA analysis
instrument, into the life science sector.
Last December, the Mannheim-based company said it had high hopes for the geniom one, claimed to be the first benchtop system that could handle the entire process of oligonucleotide microarray synthesis, hybridisation and data analysis in a single instrument.
At the time, a spokesman for the company told DrugResearcher.com that systems had already been placed in a US biotech comoany and Swiss pharmaceutical firm, even though the launch had come a year later than planned due to a number of technological issues that emerged during development.
The company could not be reached for further comment, and to see if the technology underlying the geniom one might be available for licensing.
Speculation has been that the take-up of the instrument was held back by its price (€350,000 for the system and three years' support, and a hefty €100,000 per year in consumables), and the timing for the launch of probe kits.
febit, which was founded in 1998, raised €30 million in a third round of private financing in November 2002. Among its investors were the EMBL Technology Fund and Infineon Ventures.
