Isis, Abbott deal

Abbott will pay $20 million to increase its stake in Ibis Biosciences Inc., a subsidiary of Isis, from 10.25% to 18.6%. Ibis said the deal will allow it to further develop the Ibis T5000 biosensor system for use as a clinical diagnostic. The system, which identifies and characterizes infectious agents, is currently available for research use only. Ibis T5000 is partnered with Bruker Daltonics Inc., a unit of Bruker Corp. (NASDAQ:BRKR, Billerica, Mass.), which markets the system to government entities in Europe and has worldwide rights to manufacture the unit (see BioCentury, Oct. 2, 2006). ...