Profile: Harvard Bioscience Inc (HBIO.OQ)
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Harvard Bioscience, Inc. is a global developer, manufacturer and marketer of a range of specialized products, apparatus and scientific instruments, used to advance life science research at pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, universities and government laboratories worldwide. The Company sells its products to thousands of researchers in over 100 countries through its 850 page catalog (and various other specialty catalogs), Website, through distributors, including GE Healthcare, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. and VWR, and via its field sales organization. The Company’s product range is targeted towards two application areas: ADMET testing and molecular biology. In February 1, 2012, the Company acquired the business of AHN Biotechnologie GmbH through its wholly owned subsidiary, Biochrom Ltd. In July 2011, it acquired the preclinical business unit of CMA Microdialysis AB.
ADMET Testing
The absorption, distribution, metabolism and elimination (ADMET) testing is engaged in identifying compounds that have toxic side effects or undesirable physiological or pharmacological properties. The Company sells the products under the Harvard Apparatus, BTX, KD Scientific, Hugo Sachs Elektronik, Panlab and Warner Instruments brand names. A diffusion chamber is a small plastic chamber with a membrane separating the two halves of the chamber used to measure the absorption of a drug into the bloodstream. The Company manufactures and sells a range of tissue handling products under the Warner Instruments brand name.
The Company’s 96 well equilibrium dialysis plate contains 96 pairs of chambers with each pair separated by a membrane. The protein target is placed on one side of the membrane and the drug on the other. The small molecule drug diffuses through the membrane. The product is principally used for ADMET testing to determine if a drug binds to blood proteins.
Organ testing systems use glass or plastic chambers together with stimulators and recording electrodes to study organ function. Organ testing systems enable either whole organs or strips of tissue from organs, such as hearts, livers and lungs to be kept functioning outside the body while researchers perform experiments with them.
Infusion pumps are syringe pumps, which are used to accurately infuse small quantities of liquid, commonly drugs. Infusion pumps are used for long-term toxicology testing of drugs by infusion into animals, usually laboratory rats. The Company sells a range of different types of syringe pumps and many other products for infusing samples into and collecting samples from tissues, organs and animals. It also designs and manufactures behavioral products used in neuroscience, cardiology, psychological and respiratory studies to evaluate the effects of situational stimuli, drugs and nutritional infusions on motor and sensory, activity and learning and test behavior.
The cell injection systems use bore glass capillaries to penetrate and inject drugs into or around individual cells. Cell injection systems are used to study the effects of drugs on single cells. Injection is accomplished either with air pressure or, if the drug molecule is electrically charged, by applying an electric current.
Ventilators use a piston driven air pump to inflate the lungs of an anesthetized animal. Ventilators are used in surgical procedures common in life science research and are part of its Harvard Apparatus product line. Its electroporation products include systems and generators, electrodes and accessories for research applications, including in vivo, in ovo and in vitro gene delivery, electrocell fusion and nuclear transfer cloning. In addition to the Company’s manufactured products, the Company sells through the catalog products that are made by other manufacturers. Distributed products accounted for approximately 37% of the Company’s revenues during the year ended December 31, 2011.
The Company competes with Amaxa GmbH, Becton, Dickinson and Company, Eppendorf AG, Kent Scientific Corporation, Razel Scientific Instruments, Inc. and Ugo Basile.
Molecular Biology
The Company sells the molecular biology products through its distributors, including GE Healthcare, under their brand names. The products are scientific instruments, such as spectrophotometers and plate readers that analyze light to detect and quantify a range of molecular and cellular processes or apparatus, such as gel electrophoresis units.
A spectrophotometer is an instrument used in molecular biology and cell biology to quantify the amount of a compound in a sample by shining a beam of white light through a prism or grating to divide it into component wavelengths. The Company sells a range of spectrophotometers under the names UltroSpec, NovaSpec, Libra, Biowave and Lightwave. The deoxyribonucleic acid/ ribonucleic acid (DNA/RNA) protein calculator is a bench top instrument for quantifying the amount of DNA, RNA or protein in a sample. These are sold under the GeneQuant name. The Biochrom subsidiary manufactures these products, and the Company sells them through GE Healthcare.
The multi-well plate readers are used for high throughput screening assays in the drug discovery process. The Biochrom subsidiary subsidiary manufactures these products, and the Company primarily sell them through distributors under its Asys Hitech brand name. An amino acid analysis system uses chromatography to separate the amino acids in a sample and then uses a chemical reaction to detect each one in turn as they flow out of the chromatography column. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. A liquid dispenser dispenses low volumes, microliters, of liquids into high density microtitre plates used in high throughput screening processes in life science research. The Company primarily markets these products, and sell them under distributor brand names as well as its own Asys Hitech name. Gel electrophoresis is a method for separating and purifying DNA, RNA and proteins. In gel electrophoresis, an electric current is run through a thin slab of gel and the DNA, RNA or protein molecules separate out based on their charge and size. The gel is contained in a plastic tank with an associated power supply. The Company’s offering of molecular biology laboratory consumables with a liquid handling focus consists primarily of such products as pipettes, pipette tips, autoradiography film, gloves, thermal cycler accessories and reagents.
The Company competes with Danaher Corporation, Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc., Eppendorf AG, Life Technologies Corporation, MDS Analytical Technologies, PerkinElmer, Inc. and Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.
Company Address
Harvard Bioscience Inc
84 October Hill Road
HOLLISTON MA 01746
P: +1508.8938999
F: +1508.4295732
Company Web Links
| Name | Compensation |
|---|---|
David Green |
1,154,880 |
Thomas McNaughton |
613,001 |
Susan Luscinski |
622,271 |
Earl Lewis |
-- |
Robert Dishman |
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