The Medical Device Business Journal — Medical Device News & Articles | MassDevice
Helicos Biosciences Corp. (OTC:HLCS) was delisted from the NASDAQ stock market today.
The Cambridge, Mass.-based developer of genomics instruments said in a Securities & Exchange Commission filing that "the state of its finances and near-term business prospects" made it "unlikely" for the company to reach the minimum market value of listed securities per NASDAQ’s rules, including a per share value of at least $1.
Ivan Trifunovich will be occupying the corner office at Helicos BioSciences Corp. (NSDQ:HLCS), as the company rolls out a new licensing program for its single-molecule gene sequencing technology.
Trifunovich, formerly a senior consultant to the Helicos board, was elected to serve as executive chairman Sept. 15. He replaces interim CEO Ronald Lowy, who took over from Stephen Lombardi in February and will remain a board member.
Helicos Biosciences Corp. (NSDQ:HLCS) slapped competitor Pacific Biosciences of California Inc. with a patent infringement lawsuit alleging that Pacific’s SMRT single-molecule DNA sequencing technology violates a quartet of Helicos patents.
The lawsuit, filed Aug. 27 in the U.S. District Court for Delaware by Cambridge, Mass.-based Helicos, accuses Pacific Biosciences of infringing two patents it owns and another two it licenses, covering sequencing-by-synthesis methods that use labeled nucleotides to analyze single strands of DNA.
Helicos BioSciences Corp.’s (NSDQ:HLCS) technology continues to prove useful on the cutting edge of cancer research.
Pittsburgh School of Medicine scientists employed the Cambridge, Mass.-based company’s single-molecule sequencing platform find evidence of RNA copying mechanisms in human cells.
The results showed that SMS technology could become an important part of comprehensive genetic profiling, according to Pitt assistant professor of computational biology Bino John.
Helicos BioSciences Corp. (NSDQ:HLCS) teamed up with cancer researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital to demonstrate the clinical utility of Helicos’ single molecule sequencing platform.
Daniel Haber, director of MGH’s Cancer Center, and his colleagues published their findings online in Nature Methods.
Helicos BioSciences Corp. (NSDQ:HLCS) launched a new molecular diagnostics business using its HeliScope single molecule sequencer after a significant restructuring.
In May, the company laid off half its workforce in a bid to capture more of the molecular diagnostics market.
RainDance Technologies Inc. today announced the addition of Alan Sherr as VP and chief intellectual property counsel.
Sherr will lead the growth and management of Raindance’s IP portfolio, elements of which comprise the company’s "disruptive microdroplet platform technology" used in single-molecule and single-cell analysis.
Helicos BioSciences Corp. (NASDAQ:HLCS) is eliminating 40 jobs, or about half of its current workforce, as it gives up on its genetic analysis and drug discovery business to instead focus solely on the molecular diagnostics market.
The Cambridge, Mass.-based genomics company said last month it was exploring strategic alternatives to take better advantage of its DNA-sequencing technology and to address current and potential competition. The firm received orders for 10 of its Helicos Systems during 2009 but was able to fully recognize only two of those sales in last year’s financial results, generating $2.3 million in reported revenues.
Market regulators are threatening to de-list Helicos BioSciences Corp. (NSDQ:HCLS) unless the gene sequencing firm can coax its share price above $1 for more than 10 days.
Officials at the Cambridge, Mass.-based firm received a letter earlier this week that the bid price of its stock has closed below $1 a share for more than 30 consecutive business days, triggering a 180-day window for Helicos to get its stock price above that threshold for at least two weeks or risk de-listing from the NASDAQ Global Market.
Helicos BioSciences Corp. (NSDQ:HLCS) president Stephen Lombardi is out effective Feb. 11, replaced by CEO Ronald Lowy for unspecified reasons, according to a filing with the federal Securities and Exchange Commission.
Lombardi, who also gave up his seat on the Cambridge, Mass.-based genome sequencing equipment maker, will be paid the balance of his $375,000 annual salary through August.
"Mr. Lombardi did not resign as a member of the Board of Directors as a result of any disagreement with the Company on any matter relating to the Company’s operations, policies or practices," according to the filing.
Illumina Inc. (NSDQ:ILMN) put some distance between itself and its competitors this week, as it revealed equipment capable of sequencingthe human genome for less than $10,000.
The San Diego-based company unveiled its HiSeq 2000 at the annual J.P. Morgan Health Care Conference in San Francisco, where CEO Jay Flatley said a Hong Kong-based genomics institute called BGI bought 128 of the $690,000 systems, according to the Wall Street Journal.
