BioCentury
ARTICLE | Company News

Hyseq Inc., Perkin-Elmer Corp. deal

April 15, 2013 7:00 AM UTC

The companies will develop a "universal" gene assay chip using Hyseq's DNA HyChip technology and Perkin-Elmer's DNA analysis technology. The Hyseq chip begins with a set of universal probes that can perform half of the recognition required. The customer then can add additional probes in solution together with the gene of interest. According to Perkin-Elmer, competing chips must be coded with a specific set of probes to recognize the specific gene(s) desired. Perkin-Elmer will contribute its gene detection technology, which it said would reduce sample preparation time and complexity.

Perkin-Elmer will invest $10 million in Hyseq, including an immediate private placement of 400,000 shares and a subsequent investment of about 427,000 shares as part of Hyseq's proposed IPO. The investment will give Perkin-Elmer a greater than 5 percent equity interest in Hyseq, depending on the final IPO price. Hyseq has filed to sell 2.75 million shares at $12-$14. ...