News

Los Angeles, CA, 9 September 1999Ð Strategic Directions International is pleased to announce the publication of its latest Market Analyses and Perspectives (MAP) research report entitled Lab Automation: The Dramatic Impact of Drug Discovery. This report provides a detailed picture of the current market for various laboratory automation techniques and includes an in-depth forecast till 2003. Laboratory automation products discussed in this report include microplate readers, microplate auxiliary equipment, diluters/dispensers, X YZ workstations, organic synthesizers, automated solid phase extraction apparatuses, robotic stackers/arms, integrated robotic platforms, and software.

Liquid handlers, the largest segment of the laboratory automation products included in this report, generated worldwide revenues of $465 million in 1998. Annual growth for this most important segment is forecasted at ¹15% per year for the next 5 years, contributing to a total lab automation market of ¹$2.1 billion by 2003. Driven by the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries' focus on high-throughput screening and combinatorial chemistry methods, demand for liquid handlers has experienced renewed growth in recent years.
Although liquid handlers currently account for the largest segment of the lab automation market, the fastest growth is expected to come from software. Speci® cally, cheminformatics software and integrated automation software are anticipated to grow at over 20% per year for the next 5 years.
Owing to bene® ts such as higher throughput, fewer error-prone tasks, and more reproducible results, many industries ® nd laboratory automation an attractive investment. Accordingly, this renewed interest in lab automation has put it on a new growth curve. The pharmaceutical industry will continue to be the largest and fastest growing sector with demand expected to exceed $700 million by 2003.
This report assesses the lab automation market by major product types including: microplate readers and auxiliary equipment, diluters/dispensers, X YZ workstations, organic synthesizers, automated solid-phase extraction apparatus, robotic stackers/arms, integrated robotic platforms, and software. Secondary screening instruments, e.g. high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), mass spectrometry (MS) and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) are also discussed and quanti® ed in relation to their role in drug discovery applications. Additionally, the market is segmented by geographic region and industry. Included in the report are company pro® les, competitive analyses and market shares, as well as end-user opinions. This 229 page report, containing 121 tables and 134 ® gures, provides a complete analysis of the market at the price of $3895. Strategic Directions International, based in Los Angeles, CA, is the leading international consulting company in the specialized ® eld of analytical instrumentation. Our dedication to the ® eld allows us to o er our clients a high level of detail and insight that comes from constantly monitoring the developments in the industry. News releases and other information about SDi are available at www.strategic-directions.com

HP Launches the rst product based on 'lab-on-achip' technology
Geneva, Switzerland, 24 September 1999Ð Hewlett-Packard Europe today introduced the HP 2100 bioanalyser for the integrated analysis of nucleic acids. This is the ® rst Based on Caliper Technologies' LabChip T M technology, the system marks a major step toward the development of a completely automated microscale laboratory. In this lab-on-the-chip ', all sample preparation,¯uid handling and biochemical analysis steps will be carried out within the con® nes of a microchip. The chips comprise microchannels that create interconnected networks of¯uid reservoirs and pathways.
Used together with various LabChip kits, the HP 2100 bioanalyser improves the quality of nucleic acid analysis by integrating sample handling, separation, detection and digital data processing within a single, compact system architecture. The system is designed for use by molecular biologists and biochemists working with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products, restriction enzyme digests or ribonucleic acid (RNA) preparations.

Implications for life-science research
Researchers in the areas of disease and drug discovery still experience manual processing bottlenecks during the analysis of nucleic acids. LabChip technology o ers many bene® ts over the existing manual gel electrophoresis products.
. Improved accuracy. The integrated, miniaturized chip design drastically cuts system retention and material transfer losses, improving accuracy and reducing sample consumption. . Rapid analysis. Miniaturized¯uid pathways dramatically shorten run times. Each nucleic acid sample is analysed in 90 s. . Enhanced reproducibility. State-of-the-art fabrication processes yield chips that perform more repro-ducibly than conventional gel products. Automated uid handling, using standardized experimental protocols, further enhances performance.

Initial applications
The HP 2100 bioanalyser is o ered with three introductory assays. Each assay is packaged as a complete, ready-to-use kit.
. DNA 7500 LabChip kit for accurate sizing and quantitation of DNA fragments ranging in size from 100 to 7500 bp. . DNA 12000 LabChip kit for accurate sizing of DNA fragments from 100 to 12 000 bp. . RNA 6000 LabChip kit for the analysis and quantitation of total RNA and mRNA samples.

Pricing and availability
The HP 2100 bioanalyser is initially available in Germany, Switzerland and the USA. It can be ordered directly through HP chemical analysis products sales o ces in each of these countries. The price of the complete system is approximately Euro 20 000 and delivery is estimated at 6 weeks from receipt of order.
The system is expected to be available in additional European countries and Japan by the end of 2000.