The deal means PerkinElmer will be able to provide its customers in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology arenas with Evotec Technologies' high content screening instruments and software, which allow efficient and accurate determination of the composition of cells and cell structure. The ability to follow cellular change using this technology is crucial to increasing the speed and efficiency of moving drug targets through the discovery process.
Over the last few years, cell-based assays have become an integral part of the preclinical drug development process with noninvasive cell-based assay technologies taking center stage.
Talking to LabTechnologist.com, Kevin Lorenc, vice president for PerkinElmer corporate communications, said: "this acquisition strengthens our leadership in cellular science instrumentation and expands our cellular sciences portfolio."
"This gives us the opportunity to go where many of our customers moving."
Evotec Technologies' product portfolio includes high content cellular analysis and screening systems, which combine the precision of confocal microscopy with the throughput required for primary and secondary screening. The product portfolio also includes cell manipulation and sorting systems; image capture and cellular analysis software as well as integrated ultra high throughput screening platforms.
Commenting on the deal, Prof Carsten Claussen, CEO of Evotec Technologies said: "This is the time to exploit our potential as part of a larger entity with a significantly broader sales force, portfolio strategy and R&D resources. We look forward to becoming the Center for Cellular Sciences in Hamburg within the Perkin Elmer group."
PerkinElmer are still in the midst of putting together integration plans, with the transaction targeted for completion in the first quarter of 2007. Kevin Lorenc said: "Evotec Technologies has an exceptional amount of growth potential."
Gregory L. Summe, Perkin Elmer CEO said: "Our customers today require unique, flexible tools and platforms that produce better quality and biologically relevant data for mapping cellular events to new discoveries."
"Evotec Technologies' strong product portfolio - combined with Perkin Elmer's global distribution capabilities, service and support - will help our customers speed target validation and lead optimization along the drug discovery pipeline."