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Affymetrix to acquire eBioscience

Affymetrix, Inc. (NASDAQ:AFFX) says it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire eBioscience, Inc., a privately-held San Diego, CA-based company with an industry-leading position in flow cytometry and immunoassay reagents for immunology and oncology research and diagnostics. Affymetrix will pay $330 million in cash for eBioscience and expects the transaction to complement its genomics franchise and diversify its revenues.

LED Medical Diagnostics begins trading on TSX-V

LED Medical Diagnostics Inc. (TSX V: LMD) reports that has begun trading on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol LMD. The company was founded in 2003 to develop and commercialize detection and diagnostic technologies that improve oral and systemic health. Its first product, the VELscope oral cancer screening system, distributed exclusively in the United States and Canada by Henry Schein, Inc. (NASDAQ:HSIC),  was launched in 2006 by LED Dental Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of LED Medical Diagnostics. The VELscope’s tissue fluorescence visualization technology is the first to be cleared by the FDA and Health Canada to help detect cancerous and precancerous lesions that might be invisible to the naked eye, and to help surgeons determine the appropriate surgical margin when excision is warranted. The technology can also detect non-cancerous types of oral disease, such as viral, bacterial and fungal infections.

SQI realigns business, cuts staff

Canadian-based SQI Diagnostics Inc. (TSX-V: SQD), has announced that it has realigned its business to streamline its product development portfolio and to focus on revenue generation from its Diagnostic Tools and Services business. These moves are expected to result in incremental cost savings of approximately $3.5 million annually with approximately half of the reductions coming from workforce reductions.

SQI says that it will continue to develop and launch new multiplexed products for the autoimmune diagnostic market and will reduce the number of simultaneous products under development. Late-stage IVD programs will be the priority and the company will concentrate on delivering its Quantitative Celiac 6-plex for regulatory submissions in the US, Canada and in Europe. Following this filing the company plans to focus on products to aid in the diagnosis of vasculitis, currently in late-stage development and subsequently lupus, currently at the end of early-stage development.

Instacare changes name

Decision Diagnostics Corp. (OTCQB: ISCRD) is the new name of Instacare Corp. The change, the company says, reflects their emergence as a vertically integrated provider of at-home diagnostics and more appropriately reflects the growth initiatives in place going forward. Other corporate include a 1 for 14 reverse stock split designed to help the company qualify for their common stock to be listed on a national exchange. In their third quarter 2011 financial statements the company reported that it had 113,129,030 shares outstanding. -Peter Winter