Pall sets up systems 'proving ground'; signs India deal with Avacta

Pall has opened a life science services centre to allow drugmakers to test its filtration, processing and purification technologies.

The new ‘centre of excellence’ - in Westborough, Massachusetts – is intended to be a ‘proving ground’ at which Pall’s customers can assess the various single-use systems (SUS), tangential flow filtration (TFF) technologies, viral clearance and cell culture solutions, and chromatography systems the firm makes. The site will also act as a staff training location for Pall.

In a press statement Ken Frank, president of Pall BioPharmaceuticals, said: “It will complement our new center in Menlo Park, California and serve as a technical hub for our Life Sciences business and operations in the northeast region of the United States.”

Systems boost

Pall’s systems business is in need of a shop window as sales have suffered of late. Earlier this month the firm reported that revenue from processing technologies was down 22 per cent for the fiscal fourth quarter.

At the time CEO Larry Kingsley said: "System sales were negative in the quarter as a function of a very large comparison quarter in FY11, our decision to pare certain unprofitable system sales, and lower capital commitment in some markets."

This continued the pattern seen in the third quarter when systems sales fell 60 per cent, though this was largely put down to the team dealing with problems at its then-new enterprise resource planning unit (ERP).

India deal

In other news, Pall announced that it has signed its third distribution deal with diagnotiscti tech firm Avacta.

Under the new agreement, the companies will sell and distribute Avacta's drug development tool "Optim" in India. The firms have sold the system in North America and South East Asia since 2011.

Pall has exclusive marketing and distribution rights to Optim in South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore where another of its centers of excellence is based.

Commenting on the deal Frank said: “This extension of our collaboration with Avacta in India complements our ForteBio technology and other initiatives, while adding to Pall's capability to provide high value, differentiated solutions to the developers and manufacturers of biomolecules for global healthcare needs."